Black Sails in the Sunset
by Pirate-Girl1017
Summary: In a time when theives sailed on the seas and took what they wanted when they wanted the one thing hardest to steal was true love. But when Jack Sparrow takes what he wants on a fancy he discovers that sometimes even the most roguish of pirates can fall.
1. An Introduction

Author's Note & Disclaimer: Previously this was known as 'A Pirate's Life for Me'. For lack of a better title (sighs) and the fact that my writing has improved some since I first posted I have cut, pasted, red-wrote and generally fixed up this particular story. By the way, I own nothing in this fic except the characters not seen in the films…obviously…so pweese don't sue me because all ye'll get out me is the 30-odd cents in my pocket. Oh, as this was written after the first POTC I hadn't intended on the whole squids, and chests and being eaten by a giant piece of sushi bits, so let's just say that my story happens after all that mess is cleaned up. And now on with the fic! 

**Prologue**

Many years ago, in a time and place not our own, the world was still an open map, not totally filled in and uncharted. The common people survived as best they could, the poor in their small towns and settlements trying to make what legal living they could while the wealthy lounged in their fashionable estates squandering their coin on elegant soirees and lavish dinner parties. And on the outskirts of all society were those who wouldn't fall willingly into either category and instead chose a life of freedom as boundless as the sea itself. These persons were known as 'pirates', 'scoundrels', 'buccaneers' and many other unfriendly terms. Pirates lived by a code that only applied to themselves and did any and everything they could to survive when the navies of many nations chased them across the seven seas.

One of the most notorious pirating waters was the Caribbean Sea, where English, Spanish, and Portuguese and several other European countries ran their merchant ships to and from the New World. All along the Caribbean were both large and small settlements by all these powers, though one of the best known was the English town of Port Royal on the island of Jamaica. Though still shabby in some places, but all cities had their slums, it was swiftly turning into the hub of all English trade and culture thanks to the newly appointed Commodore Norrington, known throughout the colony as bringing 'the civilized' into a land of lawlessness.

It was in this town that our story begins, for here lives not only the brave Mr. William Turner and his beautiful fiancee Elizabeth Swan but also their life long friends. One such friend, unknowing of her adventurous destiny, dreams of a life of freedom like the romanticized pirates she reads so faithfully about since childhood. Little did she know what lay in her future would be greater than anything she had ever imagined…..

**Chapter 1**

Lucinda looked out at the harbor at her home in Port Royal, the sun was just setting and the tide was at a high. The docks were shutting up for the night and all the stores had begun to close, their masters scurrying about for every last unlocked nook and cranny, the only things open were the inns and the local pubs. (Which the port had in abundance) It was a nightly ritual for the young woman to come out at this time and admire the sunset. Sometimes she would go with her charcoal and paper, or if she was lucky some of the few paints she owned, and sketch the view from a perch on a dock or boat deck.

"You've been standing here all day, come home," said a high voice from behind her.

"Oh don't nag 'er", she's still upset that we were away when those pirates showed up," a second female voice joined in.

"Well you never know," Lucinda replied without even turning around, "some pirates rotate ports. I've always wanted to see a pirate."  
"And be one," mumbled the other two under their breath.

"I heard that!"

"We know!" Together the three girls laughed and made their way off the dock. These spirited ladies were the Collins sisters, good friends of Will Turner. Lucinda was the eldest, a 19-year-old with the classic shape of a Greek statue, full figured, curvy and average height. Her eyes were a hazel, sometimes green then other times light and gold flecked. Though is was her hair that was her crowning feature, it fell to her waist, a straight, rich brown lightly streaked gold and red from exposure to the sun. The second oldest was Amanda who was slightly larger then her sibling but no less pretty. Men often flocked about her due her ample bosom, she would bat her pale blue-green eyes at them, flip her curly, shoulder length auburn hair over her neck and leave them in her trail for amusement. Youngest, and actually the tallest of the three was Emma, a slender girl with laughing brown eyes and dirty blond hair that just grazed her collar bone. Even though she was 17 she did have the habit of acting more like a 7-year-old and was often seen with her hands on her slim hips grouching about something or other.

The younger two loved to tease their sister about her fantasy about sailing on a galleon ship and being a pirate, this had been going on since they were 3, 4, and 5 and showed no sign of stopping anytime soon. So they walked along talking and giggling to the road that led to their home. They lived alone, their parents died in a boating accident, their father had been a fisherman, when Lucinda was 13 and they had been on their own since. But they got by working in the pubs as bar maids and selling baskets they wove or odds and ends they made.

"You know I heard the ship that sacked town last year was the _Black Pearl_," Emma commented. That caught her sister's attention, they knew some pirates had indeed come, but they didn't know what ship it had been. Amanda opened the front door with the massive key she had in her pocket and they moved into the little parlor.  
"Are you joshing me?" Lucinda asked, the _Black Pearl_ had been an obsession of hers for some time now. That was something she and Ms. Swan had in common, since they were children stories of the _Black Pearl_ had always been a favorite. Part adventure and part horror, the idea of a ship crewed by the damned wove dreams in the little girls heads of leaving their restrictive lives and heading out to sea themselves. Hanging up their capes and hats they sat by the fireplace as one lit the single candle on their little center table. Amanda combed out her red/brown hair and picked up a book as Lucinda untied her own long brown from it's bun while Emma literally fought with her dirty blond tresses with a bone comb.

"Nope, I heard it from our buddy the blacksmith Mr. William Turner," she answered.  
"Oh get over him, Em," Amanda told her. Emma had been drooling over William until she found out some weeks ago he was engaged to Ms. Elizabeth Swan, the governor's daughter. Least to say she was not happy and had invested in a rather seedy collection of voodoo instruments. "You've been trying to make a doll to destroy of Ms. Swan ever since you knew he was getting married to her."

"Well you can't blame me for trying."  
"Yes we can," replied the older girls. They laughed at Emma's expression and soon decided to go to bed.  
**  
Lucinda's bedroom**

"Yo ho, yo ho, a pirates life for me," a quiet voice rang in the humble bedchamber. She sung quietly to herself while looking into her vanity mirror, the song had come from a game once played with Elizabeth. For some reason though when she jokingly mumbled it close to her friend Lizzy had stuttered and refused to sing along. Just minutes before she had changed into a plain, linen white night dress and robe, now she was braiding her wavy dark locks and humming the favorite song. Emma and Amanda had already fallen asleep, but for some reason she could not, too much was running through her head. "I wonder," she whispered. Her friend Will was rumored to have been an ally to the one and only Capt. Jack Sparrow, and this seemed something that was too good to be true. She finished her hair and debated whether or not to wear her nightcap when a loud pounding came from the front door. "What the hell!" she rushed down the hall and down the little flight of steep stairs. Amanda and Emma ran out of their shared bedroom and followed her, Emma nearly fell down the staircase, which was nothing new. Lucinda rushed through the kitchen/ dining room and sitting space as the pounding continued even more urgently before she reached the door. The home was only about medium size and had only two floors for living and a cellar, but at times it seemed bigger, like now, especially when one was in a hurry to reach a particular location. "Who's there?" she yelled.  
"It's me, William, let me in! It's an emergency!" She gasped and threw open the latch and yanked the door open. Will came in, struggling to hold up a semi- unconscious man under his arm and nearly fell due to the dead weight. The smell of rum radiated form the man and blood trickled from his forehead, which was covered by long black hair and a red bandanna not to mention several strange beads.  
"Bring him to the sitting room," Lucinda said as she helped hold the man on the opposite side. "Amanda, go heat some water and get bandages! Emma, you go get my sewing kit and a bottle of brandy from the cellar!" she ordered. Will and her laid down the intoxicated man on an old couch and she put her robe over him, the house was drafty and it was a rather cold night.

"Where are your flint and steel?" Will asked. The girl pointed to a wooden chest by the fireplace and he brought out the fire lighting tools. Soon a roaring flame had sprouted and her sisters had come with the supplies she needed, she thanked whatever deity was listening that for once her sisters had listened to a word she said. The man groaned and looked right into Lucinda's hazel eyes, the firelight played on them and reflected in the specks of gold in her irises, she took a glance hasty at his own black rimmed brown eyes.

"Did I die?" he asked.  
"No Jack, you didn't die, but you got yourself pretty banged up," Will told him as he set the supplies neatly on the table in a row.  
"But I musta died." Lucinda thought that the man must have lost his mind if he thought he was dead, but then again it could be the alcohol taking it's affect, after all she had worked in a tavern long enough to know when a man wasn't himself.

"And why, sir, do you think that you've died?" she asked.

"Cause' an angel's lookin' down at me," he explained. Her eyes widened, and then she dismissed what he said as the alcohol talking as she had suspected. But her sister's thought it was quite entertaining, having a drunken man calling Lucinda an angel, they knew she was uncomfortable with compliments. But what really got them giggling was that as an experienced bar maid she should have been used to men leering at her and saying unwanted comments. If she wasn't ready to take the back of her hand to his face by now then it could only mean that she found him, at least somewhat in his current condition, pleasing to the eye.

"Alright? hold still," she peeled back his bandanna and took a look at his wound, he had a long cut going half way across his forehead and it was pouring out blood.

"What the hell happened to him?" Amanda asked.

"He took me out to 'celebrate' my engagement, in his own way. But, during a game of cards someone cheated him out of some money-" Jack cut him off.

"Some? That was 80 shillings worth of gold!"

"And," Will continued like nothing had happened, "he got angry, picked a fight and as a result was wounded right on his head."

"That explains it." Meanwhile Lucinda was cleaning up Jack's bloodied head while he tried to talk in a slurring tone of voice.

"You do this often?"

"What do you mean?"

"Cleanin' up drunks in the middle of the night in ye shift."

"Oh yes," she smiled cheerfully, "nothing makes my night like stitching up a drunken stranger whose probably poisoned my friend Will's mind with your idea of a celebration." She pulled a needle and thread out of her sewing kit and held the needle up to her eye to poke the string through.

"Ye got spunk, a girl after me own heart," then he saw what she was about to do, "oh no, that's just what I need, another set of stitches to mare me perfect face."

"I would hardly call your face perfect, Jack," said William. Amanda and Emma got their first good look at their guest; long black hair in dreadlocks, braids but most of it hung loose, beads in his beard, shadowy dark eyes and worn looking clothing which at one time must have actually been of fine quality. The apparent nurse held the needle with a piece of cloth and held it over the flame before turning to face her patient.  
"Now hold still, I'm going to start the stitching. I know you're already past drunk but if you can't take it I've got some brandy here for you." Half an hour later Lucinda finished, no thanks to her squealing assistants who flinched each time she pulled the thread tight.  
"Will he be alright?" William asked his friends.

"I think so, but with the hangover he'll have in the morning and the time it will take for that gash to heal, I think it's best he stay here a few days. A fortnight at most."  
"Thank you, Miss Lucy, Miss Amanda, Miss Emma, you don't know how hard it is to keep him in check." Jack glared up at Will's smirking face from his place on the couch.

"No problem, and Will, you don't have to call us 'Miss' We've been fiends the entire time you've lived here," said Amanda.  
"You go home now, it's late," added Emma.  
"I'll be back in a week to check on him. Thank you so much, goodnight ladies," he let himself out and began the walk home to the smithy.  
"Well, that was fun. Come on Em, let's get back to sleep and leave 'dear Lucy' with her patient." Taking the hint as a chance to torment her oldest sibling she followed Amanda up the stairs and out of sight, they barely hid their evil expressions.  
"Seems it's just you and me luv," Jack said with a drunken smile that revealed his gold and silver teeth.

"You Sir have to get some rest, but I'll stay here in case you need something, or if you try to take something," the last part she said to herself.  
"Wadda ya say you give ol' Jack a goodnight kiss, savvy?"

"How about you give ol' Lucy some quiet so she can sleep?"

"Ouch, luv," he held bejeweled hand over his chest where his heart would be, " but I'll let you go this time, night me pretty," and as soon as his head hit the pillow he was out like a light.

"Oh, men," she muttered and adjusted herself on a chair with a blanket and was asleep just as fast.


	2. Things get more complicated

**Disclaimer:** Nothing except whatever/whoever is not seen in the actual flicks is mine and mine alone. (clutches chibi characters in a sickening group hug) With this said I now give you the fic.

**Chapter 2**

Lucinda awoke the next morning to the sound of loud moans, two people arguing and a kettle over flowing into the fire it's contents were making loud 'splat' noises from the kitchen. Jack was clutching his head between his hands, no doubt the worst hangover he ever had was plaguing him, he was mumbling that it was anyway. And the fighting was her sisters arguing about whose turn it was to do all shopping for the week and who had to man the shop in town, again this was nothing new. It seemed like the only thing those two could agree on was that annoying the third Collins girl was acceptable to do at any given time.

"Will everybody shut up?" Lucy yelled when she could take it no more. "Jack, keep your moaning down to a limit. Emma it is your turn to go to market so grab the baskets and go. Amanda you have to man the shop today so pick up the extra money and get a move on." And to her total surprise everyone did as she told them to, usually her sisters could care less if she tried to sort out an argument. Soon they were all gone except her and her hung over charge who was peeking at her between his filthy fingers. "Can you manage to swallow some breakfast?" she asked him. He nodded his head yes, even though the movement caused him to get rather dizzy. She got out of her chair and walked to the kitchen, his eyes followed her until he could see her no more.

"So beautiful," he said to himself making his head ring from the sound of his own voice. Fifteen minutes later she came back with a mug of warm milk, some dried fruit, a small piece of bread and a few slice of ham.

"Here you go," she sat the tray of food on a nearby stool and helped him sit up on the couch. He looked over his breakfast but gazed at the milk as if it was sewer sludge. "What's wrong?"

"I 'aven't had a milk since I was ten years old.'"

"Well then it's about time you had some," she reasoned like a mother to a child.

"You wouldn't 'ave any rum now would ya, luv?"

"If you think that I'm going to give you any alcohol after last night then you've another thing coming Mr…."

"No calling me Mr.- I hate that," he reached for an apricot and one of his torn sleeves moved up his arm revealing the edges of a blue tattoo.  
"What's that?" she tried to get a better look at it.  
"Nothing," he said a little too loudly, "me head!" He clutched at his bandages making his tattoo clearly visible. It was a sun setting on the ocean with a bird in the center of it all, the symbol of the pirate Capt. Jack Sparrow.

"You're? You're?" she pointed to the tattoo then to him, her calm demeanor floating away like a leaf on the wind.

"Yep, that I am, now um can you take these bloody things off me, they itch to high heaven." At first she was too stunned to even move then, shaking her head, came back to the world of the living and began to check his bandages. They were covered in dried blood in long brown segments, so she got up and found some fresh ones in the cabinet and started to rewrap his sewn- up head.

"How did, if you don't mind me asking, meet Will in the first place?" He had been so busy examining her round, pale face and somewhat 'morning after' mussed looking hair that he barely heard her question. In his own prestigious opinion she looked very nice in that ruffled state in her nightdress.  
"Huh? Oh, how I met Will, well um I was running from some redcoats. And I needed a place to hide I found his shop and went in there," he watched as her hands wrapped around his head over and over again. A lock of hair fell in her face, obscuring the view there so he gently brushed it away with his thumb. She held in a breath and tried to think of something to divert his attention, his touch had sent ripples down her spine.

"You were running from guard, so why were you doing that anyway," she finished his bandage and sat back down on her chair. The distance she put between them was not just for modesty, being so close to a pirate, a very roguish and handsome pirate, was not only some what uncomfortable but something else she couldn't explain.  
"It's a long story, savvy."

"I've got time."

"Alight then me little lassie," he grinned and tried to ignore his headache and told her not only that but his whole adventure with Will and Elizabeth and Captain Barbosa. By the time he finished Emma and Amanda were returning home and Lucinda had not even gotten her into normal clothes.  
"I don't even want to know," Amanda went into the kitchen, a bag of groceries dangling one her arm, to get supper ready.  
"I'm with her," Emma followed her sister's example and left. Just then Lucinda got up, saying she needed to get dressed and started to leave as well.  
"Now why go and do a thing like dat? Why don't you just stay here with me?"

"Because, I have to get to work after dinner," she explained.

"Where ye work, luv?"

"The Wharf Rat Tavern, by the docks."

"Can I come?" The others heard that and giggled at the pleading tone in his voice as he begged more and more to go with their sis to work. Images of a younger, perhaps eleven year old Jack came into all the women's minds as he tried to master puppy-like eyes.  
"No is no Mr. Sparrow, now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna get dressed." As she walked up the stairs he let out an exasperated grunt and yelled,  
"It's Captain Sparrow not Mr. Sparrow! Oh me aching head!" Even though his hangover had long since disappeared his blow to the head had continued to bother him, but one would expect that if one had been hit very hard with a heavy glass bottle . When Lucinda came back down she had changed into a gray gown with a square neckline, the sleeves ended at her elbows and the gray over piece stopped at her hips to reveal a dark green underskirt. Her hair was pulled up in a simple bun and had a few loose wavy locks hanging down in the back and framed her face. Just as she was pulling on a black cloak, she noticed her sisters holding in laughter.  
"What's so funny?" Then she saw the empty couch with her robe folded and neatly placed on the armrest…but there was no sign what so ever of Jack Sparrow. "Wh- where did he go! He's not fit to get up!" She looked frantically around the little room, hopping to see her strange guest hiding some where or just gone off to get a drink.  
"He said he wanted to see you work so badly that he had to go on by himself and told us to tell you he would meet you there," Amanda said with a deceptively happy face.  
"Damn! I'm going to try and catch him before he gets too far. With any luck I can find him in time to bring him back and still get to work on time. Bye!" and she ran out the door leaving Emma confused and Amanda laughing insanely.

**The Warf Rat Tavern**  
Jack sat the bar of the seaside pub talking to one of his crew members and nursing a mug of cheap ale when the front doors burst open and a woman stalked in. The pirate captain smiled to himself, he may be injured but he knew each of his favorite ports by heart, so there was no way she could have gotten here before him, shortcuts were such a blessing. She looked very angry indeed, 'oh well, she was bound to be anyway,' he thought, 'but she is very pretty all riled up like that.' But before she could reach him her employer caught her by the arm, no doubt scolding her for being late. He gazed at her in her every day clothing, he decided that she was too lovely to be wearing such plain, bland things.  
"Jack! 'Ey Jack, what's wrong with ye?"  
"Huh? What, nuttin's wrong." he turned to the man beside him, not at all a fair exchange for what was to been seen in the opposite direction. But the guy just grinned at his fearless leader and glanced at the seething barmaid on the other end of the tavern and winked at Jack.  
"Dat there's Lucy Collins, cute little thing, ain't she? She been working here since she was bout'…I dunno…13, and gets more and more stubborn as she gets older."  
"What do you mean by stubborn?" Unfortunately a crash sounded, the men turned and lo and behold the topic of conversation was straddling another barmaid and repeatedly socking her in the face answered the question. Jack merely raised an eyebrow. The manager of the tavern pulled a furious Lucy off of the other girl and used up most of his strength, and both hands, just keeping a grip on her.

"What happened here?" he bellowed.

"She attacked me!" screeched the girl on the floor. Her nose was bleeding, as was her lip and her eye was purple, but her smudged make up (which most have been slathered on with a spatula there was so much of it) was the worst part. It ran over her face like tiny rivers from the tears she was obviously trying to make spur of the moment.

"No!" Lucy retorted. "She insulted me and slapped me first!" Jack looked over her face, there was a harsh red mark in the shape of a hand marring her left cheek. She appeared like a wild amazon, half her hair had fallen from its bun and fell to her side in a wavy mass, part of her gown was torn and her eyes could have shot out fire they looked so angry and heated. The other bartender started to cry and rant about how she was wronged by Lucy but only got her opponent to try even harder to free herself and shout back about how she lied and was only jealous that the Collins girl received better tips.  
"That's enough!" their boss silenced them. "You, Heaven," he pointed to the girl with too much make up, "are always insulting any gel who comes in sight who you seem to think is some kinda threat! And you," he turned to Lucy, "have gotten into more fights then most of the men in here. Both of you out! And don't dare come back begging for work!" At that moment Amanda and Emma arrived, they looked over the carnage and grimaced.

"What in the hell happened to you?" asked Amanda. Lucy saw her younger sisters, but what she was worried about was Amanda, she was in 5 times as many fights as herself, and was by far more intimidating. If she knew who had started the cat fight then Heaven was in for more then a few cuts and sprains, she shuddered just thinking about the possible out come. The boss man let go of his former employee and scoffed at her before returning to work, even though inside he was screaming, true she got into scuffles but she was the best tender he had. Now he had to look for some one new, but things had to be done. He couldn't keep having customers scared away by a girl, it was bad for business. Lucy gave the girl who was climbing off of the floor one last kick in the shin and walked over to her sisters mumbling under her breath. All this time Jack had watched everything, a thousand thoughts going through his mind. "Lucinda Rose Collins! Did you just loose your job cause' of that little whore?"

"Lucinda Rose Collins," Jack tried out the name on his tongue and found that he very much liked the sound of it. But as he was thinking about how nice a name it was the Collins sisters were already beginning to walk out the door. "Oops, looks like I gotta go, tell the men to have the ship ready by the end of the week. And, 'ave an extra bed set up in me cabin, we'll be having a guest," and he followed the girls out the door and back home, wearing a mischievous grin the whole time. His crewman just cocked his head to the side, not really understanding what was going on the captain's mind, so he shrugged and went back to his pint.


	3. Living with Jack

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing, if I did I would be sitting on a beach during film break drinking rum and chatting with my very pretty actors. So as I am here with you and not somewhere in Bermuda then one can assume that I do not have the rights to POTC. And with that said I will bring on the chappie And thank you ALL for your lovely reviews sniffs it makes me so happy that I'm appreciated….ppl here think I'm a little nuts for writing about "Wobbly-Legs Sparrow" hehe.

**Chapter 3**

The remainder of that week went with each day almost exactly like the last, Amanda and Emma would trade places every other day on working or buying for their living, once in a while arguing over it. Lucinda would look for a new job in anything she could find, but the girl she had fought had a large mouth, a sharp tongue and a lot of connections, so she was reduced to staying at home most of the time now. And Jack had complained of his headaches every hour on the hour, or at least when Lucy was in earshot so she could tend to his every changing list of needs.

"Alright Jack, time to check your stitches again," Lucinda said coming into the sitting room with her supplies. She sat down next to him and put one of her hands against his forehead to feel the wound. "Well, you sure do heal fast, I think can take these out now."

"Guess I only heal so quick with such a good nurse," she turned a bright red. Every time she had been with him he had flirted with her at each possible chance he could, much to the entertainment of her sisters. As she gently pulled out the stitches with her long nails or tweezers Jack went over the plan he had been setting up all week, in between wincing or biting his lip so as not to squeal like a piglet of course. During his stay he had carefully watched the sisters in their habits, listened to their stories and memorized their interests, especially when the eldest was teased over her love of pirate lore.

First he would wait until Amanda and Emma were fast asleep, Lucy was always the last one to bed. She locked up the house at night and usually stayed up to read in order to spend some silent time to herself. Will wouldn't be coming to check on him until late tomorrow afternoon, so that gave him all of tonight to spirit his young luv away, he grinned at his brilliant choice of words. What happened exactly once they boarded his ship was beyond him though…he'd cross that bridge when he came to it.

"Ouch! That hurt!"

"Don't be such a baby, Jack.," she rolled her eyes.

"Yer not the one with the pointy thing sticking yer tender flesh, pet."

"You could take being branded but you can't keep silent for this?"

He chose not to answer.

At least he hoped to make her his "luv," after all, each time he flirted with her, she had not once tried to stop him. That and they seemed to have formed a tentative friendship as she now was forced, due to current circumstances, to spend her entire day with him. He prided himself on his level of knowing so much about her in such a little amount of time, in fact he had come to realize that they were very much a like when it came to resourcefulness, cunning and street smarts. Not to mention she knew just about as much about ships as he did and he found her sense of humor refreshing…and there was also something that kept beating at his mind that he couldn't quite understand.

She had been kind to him.

True she had done it because William had asked he to help him because they were friends, but not many women let perfect strangers into their homes. But after that she had talked to him, not trying to find out where the _Pearl_ docked or how much she would get if she turned him in, but really talked to him. They would share their experiences and compare lives and laughed together. He couldn't remember the last time he had a lengthy conversation with a female without it being a discussion on how much he would owe her in the morning for her services.   
"There, all done. You'll have a scar, but I did my best to make sure that it wouldn't be too visible. Besides, you wear that bandanna and hat all the time so no one will really see it if you don't take them off." A smile graced her pink lips and she put her tweezers away and balled up the used bandages to be thrown away.  
"I'm home!" In came Amanda with a huge basket over flowing with cloth, some food and various odds and ends. "Well, don't you two look cozy," she gave Lucinda a sly face of hers that could only mean one thing and that face had always made her family nervous ever since she had learned how to form it.

She was up to something. Lucy followed her into the kitchen, wondering what she could be up to this time, Amanda had a reputation of meddling in every one else's business if she thought that her unique touch would add some spice to the out come.  
"Why were you looking at me that way?" Lucinda asked her, hands on her hips.  
"Looking at you how?" the other answered asked, her voice dripping with fake innocence as she batted her long lashes.  
"You know, that face when you're plotting something!"

"That one? I wasn't giving you that look, was I?"

"Yes!"  
"Well, if I was then I have no idea why I would be. Especially when you were simply leaning into a drop dead gorgeous man, on the couch, alone and-" she clasped her hands under her chin dramatically.  
"Enough, I get the point already!" Arms flailing in annoyance the girl held the bridge of her nose and breathed deeply.  
"You do?"  
"Yes, you're playing match maker, again." Known to all who knew her Amanda Collins had the reputation of trying to pair up all she had in her circle. Countless times had she left her beloved brown haired sister alone with various bachelors around town hoping that that one was going to be 'the One.' She left the room, leaving the match maker in training in the kitchen with a devilish grin on her face. Amanda sighed and started to get dinner ready thinking that Lucinda Sparrow had a nice ring to it.

"Hmmmm…I think I like the sound of that," she pulled out a cast iron pot and poured it three quarters full of water. "She gets what she wants, he gets what he wants and we get treasure privileges as sisters to the bride," she giggled at her thoughts and went on making her stew all the while humming an odd mix of 'A Pirate's Life for Me' and the popular wedding march.

**Emma's room**

"Alright then, take that Ms. Elizabeth Swan," Emma said mockingly as she stabbed an ill- made voodoo doll with another pin. The doll in question was made of scraps of linen, dressed in a mockery of the aristocracies fine clothes and had a painted on face that was bug- eyed with it's tongue sticking out on one side.

A knock came from her door and she told the person to come in and she held her creation by it's yarn hair in front of her glaring face.

"Your still at it, huh sis?" Lucinda asked playfully.

"You bet," she smiled and ripped off the doll's head. The other girl rolled her eyes, sighed and sat down on Emma's bed and looked out the window, gazing at the harbor.  
"The view is so beautiful, I think I'll take a walk, I could see the sunset a lot better out there," she got up and walked to the door to go off on her favorite past time.

"But Lucy you know Amanda gets mad when you just walk out to the docks like that."

"So don't tell her I'll be back before dinner, I promise," and then she was gone. What she didn't know was that Jack had been hiding in the hallway in the shadows and had heard her plan and went to distract Amanda from seeing her older sister escape. That distraction was kicking some coals from the hearth into the middle of the kitchen floor and pretending to slip on them…although it worked a little too well and he ended up with a new hole in his coat.

Then he told her he had left something outside the last time he had taken a walk around the house when she was shopping and had to go get it. He said that he couldn't be still and had many trips he took when he couldn't take being cooped up in one room for too long. Yeah right.

"I be back before dinner, promise," and he all but ran to the wharf.

Port Royal Docks 

Lucinda stared at the horizon counting the colors the setting sun gave off and loving the way it reflected on the beautiful cerulean blue of the Caribbean water. After all the commotion of the past week, being saddled with a famous pirate with a habit of pulling his stitches, loosing her job, dealing with a voodoo hopeless relative and just realizing she might be _liking_ said pirate it could be easily said that she was thoroughly exhausted.

Just as the last rays of light vanished beneath the horizon and she was about to turn for home a hand covered her mouth and another hit her neck, causing her to black out, all this happened from behind and in less then 10 seconds. The last thing she could recall seeing was a pair of dark rimmed brown eyes looking at her in a combination of adoringly and apologetically.

Some time Later 

"Oh, my head," Lucinda awoke and groggily wiped the sleep from her tired eyes, the she frowned. "I sound like Jack," she grumbled. Once she was awake enough she sat up as her eyes fluttered fully open and she took in her surroundings, a dark yet tastefully, if not some what cluttered, furnished room with large bay windows that were facing nothing but open ocean. The room suddenly lurched and she fell out of the four poster bed she was in and landed painfully on her back. "What the hell?" Then it hit her, she was on a ship, probably miles from the shores of home.  
**  
**


	4. Welcome to the Black Pearl

**Disclaimer:** I own POTC just about as much as I own the rights to Inu-Yasha, which means only the people here not seen in the flicks are mine. Well here is the next one, longer then the rest so far hope you all enjoy it and tell me what you think, this is a real humorous one wink. And thank you all for the reviews coming in. Cookies for all!

**Chapter 4**

Jack stood at the helm of the Black Pearl looking at his compass. They were on course to Tortuga then they would go to the cove on which his old man and Mum had hidden their extensive treasure in. It may have a few cursed items in it, and it was to be expected since the Sparrows had never lead a 'normal' life. But Jack wasn't stupid, there was still enough booty in those caves to set him up for life, hell there was enough to get him through five lives. Just ignore the evil shinnies and all would be fine, which's what his father had always told him. All the sudden he was jarred from his day -dreams when his crew started to yell and stop working and froze at their posts.

"Why the 'ell ye barnacle brains stop doin' yer jobs?" Then he saw the reason, Lucinda had woken up and had gone on deck, and the crew (minus Anna-Maria of course) thought it bad luck to have a woman on board...silly superstition that it was. He looked down at her, the wind pulled at her waist length hair, the light blue skirt she wore swirled about her ankles and her unfastened dark blue jacket spun around her middle as the wind progressed across the deck. He could see her stays and shift as clear as day, not to mention the amount of bare bosom that was out due to the later as well, so that meant so could everyone else on the vessel.  
A few of the men looked over the young woman, she was good looking-not excessively beautiful-but pretty, but none of them had even seen her get on the ship. Half of them were wondering how the captain was going to deal with the stowaway, some of them even wondered if he wouldn't just walk her off now. But she didn't notice any of them, she was busy glaring at the man at the helm.

"Jack Sparrow I'm going to kill you!" She screamed and rushed up the stairs to where he stood, balanced on the tips of her toes, where she proceeded to reach up and choke him. After struggling for a moment, and turning a pretty shade of blue, he pried her hands from his neck, with some-not a lot he considered it-trouble and worked on catching his breath.

"Now, now darlin' no need to get all violent like, savvy," he said using his arms to not only communicate in his own special way but to also fend off any future attacks.  
"No need? This is your doing, how dare you kidnap me!" He held her arms tightly to her sides and kept her from attempting to kill him again.  
"Before we go on do ye think ye should fix yer clothes first?" She glanced quickly at where his eyes were seemingly glued; her jacket was wide-open showing off her pale chest that was heaving from her anger. Gasping as he let go of her arms and she covered her breasts with them her hands, any more heavy breathing and they just might have fallen right out.  
"Pervert."  
"Now that ain't very nice, luv," he made a pouting face at her.

"What am I doing here? And where exactly is here?"

"Why you're on the Black Pearl, dear, as me special guest." She was silent for a minute, letting what he had said settle in.

"How long have I been asleep?"  
"Um," he stroked his beard as he thought, "since 'bout 7 last night."  
"And what time is it now?"

"Bout 11, I let ye sleep in, couldn't bare to wake ye when ye looked so peaceful."  
"I think I need to sit down," she fell to her knees right there and slowly buttoned up her jacket while she sat. Jack signaled to another pirate to take the helm and he kneeled beside her.

"Ye want a more comfortable seat?" She only nodded. "Alright then." One of his arms went under her knees and the other about her back and he lifted her up and started walking.

"What the? What are you doing?" she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck to keep from falling.  
"Bringing you to a more comfortable seat, just like ye wanted," a few of the crew stared at their Captain as if he had gone mad, although many thought he already had a few screws loose anyway. He carried her back to his cabin and sat her down on a fluffy, red velvet chair and pulled out a matching footstool for her. Then seated himself in an identical chair across from her and slung his feet over the armrest and threw his hat which expertly landed onto a hook on the wall.

"Mr. Sparrow," she said on purpose knowing he hated that, "can you tell me why you've brought me here?" Inside she was seething but she held it in with everything she had, meeting the man was one thing kidnapping was a whole other story.

"It's Captain Sparrow, but for ye I can make an exception, ye can call me Jack. And why I brought ye here was cause I heard ye and your sisters talking one night 'bout how ye wanted to be a pirate. So I took it upon myself to grant your wish," he explained it as though he did this all the time. But then again, knowing this man nothing was really all that hard to believe.

"So you kidnap me?"

"I wouldn't exactly call it kidnapping, it was more like borrowin' ye."  
"So you 'borrowed' me from my home with no intention of taking me back?"  
"Well if ye wanted to go back I'd take you." He tried to sound like his normal self but his voice betrayed the disappointment he felt when she said she didn't want to be there. Somehow her wanting to go home imminently was not in his initial plan. Hell he really didn't know how he had come up with his plan in the first place, kidnapping was to be done when ransom was involved. But some how he just knew that he wanted her to go with him, her dreaming of piracy had only given him incentive. Hearing the hurt there in his voice made her regret being so snappish, the sensible voice in her head told her demand to be brought home. Another voice though, one she hadn't listened to in a long time told her to stay, at least for a time, and live her dream. So she pondered and rethought what she was going to say next until she came up with a perfect solution.  
"I'll tell you what," Jack perked up, "I'll stay with you for whatever trip you have planned next. If I like it I'll become a permanent passenger with you, if not you take me back and you can visit me. Do we have a deal?" He repeated the bargain over in his head, he saw no down side. He put out his hand to her, she took it and smiled.

"Aye, we 'ave a deal."

**Port Royal**  
"I'm telling you Will she went out and almost as quickly so did he!" Emma told her friend over a very tense lunch.

"He must have kidnapped her, after all, he was always following and flirting with her," Amanda added as she finished her tea.  
"Jack does have a thing for the ladies," said William grudgingly. "Well, we can't find her on our own, we should see Elizabeth." Emma choked on her tuna sandwich at the sound of her rival's name, Amanda patted her back and looked at Will, confused.

"How could Elizabeth help?" she asked as she handed her suffocating sibling a glass of water.

"With her father being the Governor maybe she could persuade him to give us a ship. Jack could only be going one place right now."  
"Where would that be," Emma asked after she had gotten a ham sandwich out of her lungs.  
"Tortuga," the girls stopped and stared at him like he had grown a second head.  
"Your telling us that Mr. Dreadlocks is taking our sister to the pirate capital of the world?" Amanda asked him slowly, as if she were asking a 5-year-old.

"That's exactly what I'm telling you. He'll go there for more supplies, some time off, rum and then he'll be off for his treasure." Amanda gazed at Will over the rim of her cup, her blue/green eyes sparkling with interest. She sat her teacup on the table and folded her hands very proper like on her lap and calmly looked up at him.

"What do you mean by 'go off for his treasure' dear Will?" she asked. Emma sighed and muttered under her breath something about Amanda would take gold over her sisters any day, she received a swift kick to the ankle under the table.  
"Well he has a cove filled with riches that only he can get to. There's no doubt he'll go back to get it, spend more than half it on rum, then go vacation on some deserted tropical island somewhere," Will answered as if he were telling her about the weather.

"What are we waiting here for?! Let's go find Elizabeth and find him!" Amanda grabbed Emma and Will by their arms and ran in the direction of the Governor's house. A few hours later, after much debating and holding back the youngest of the Collins sisters from pouncing on Elizabeth they got the Governor to give them a ship and crew to rescue their sister.

"William!" Elizabeth called out as he and the girls were leaving. "When will you be departing?"

"Your father said we could leave within the week," he answered. She smiled.  
"Good, that gives me plenty of time to pack."  
"Pack? Oh no Elizabeth there is no chance you are coming," he said sternly.  
"Oh yes I am certainly going! I have been cooped up here for almost a year now. I need some time to get away, besides, I want to see Mr. Sparrow and give him a piece of my mind."

"Don't worry, hun, I can take care of that," Amanda said and patted Elizabeth's shoulder as Emma seethed in the corner.

Somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean 

"So let me get this strait, Jack stole your ship, sunk it, promised to give you the _Interceptor_, lost that one, so now you're stuck here?" Lucinda asked Anna -Maria. The young black woman nodded as she mopped the deck.

"Don't know why I let 'im borrow my ship in the first place, guess I just got a soft spot for penniless pirate Captains without a ship." They held in their laughter as the man in question walked by giving them a suspicious face. Once he was on the other side of the boat they couldn't hold it in anymore and burst out in front of the whole crew.

"Women," Jack sighed. He had figured that Lucinda would spend most of the time with him, thinking she wouldn't be able to stand his men. What he hadn't counted on was her and his one female shipmate would become fast friends. For the past five days all she had done was talk during the day with Anna -Maria, (the two were thick as thieves) have drinking contests at night with the men (and winning many) and sleep. That was the one good thing that had come with her being on the ship or at least it was in his opinion. You see, the man he had told to get the extra bed set up in his cabin had gotten too drunk that night and couldn't remember what it was he was supposed to set up.  
So, Jack got to share his bed with the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. The only thing though was that she stole all his blankets in the middle of the night. Not a good thing for someone (like him) who preferred to not bother with a little thing called nightclothes. He shuddered at the memory of how she reacted when she found out she was to sleep in his bed with him.

Flashback 

"And this is where ye be sleepin'," he opened the door. It was the same room she had woken up in. They had just finished a tour of the _Black Pearl_ where she had seen quite the collection of characters. Not to mention a female pirate who was friendly to her where the rest of the crew were not. "Um, I had told one of me men to get ye a bed of yer own. But he had a bit too much rum, and sort o' forgot."

"Wait a second, this is the Captain's cabin, isn't it?" she asked.  
"Um, yeah."  
"So how are two people supposed to sleep in here," she noticed the single bed in the center of the room.  
"Well, the bed's big enough for two, now ain't it?" She considered yelling at him but decided against it, she had argued enough for one day. At about 3 in the morning Jack woke up feeling like he had been dipped headfirst into a bucket of ice water. He looked next to him; Lucinda slept peacefully, the collar of her shift slipping off her shoulder, and all of his covers were pulled over her. He tried to tug some over to his side, but she had a tight grip on them.

"Alright then," he got up and walked up and around the bed. Giving the blankets a good hard yank sent the bed's other occupant falling to the floor with a loud 'thump'.  
"What the hell?!" she looked around her. There she saw Jack standing not a foot in front of her holding the covers she had had wrapped around her just a few seconds ago. But that was not what bothered her the most. "Where are your clothes?!" she screeched when she looked up and crab walked back two feet clenching her eyes shut.

"Can't stand wearin' clothes to bed," said it as if it were nothing.  
"I can't share a bed with you if you sleep in the nude!" she hissed standing up.

"Why not?"  
"Because, because, it just isn't right!"  
"Yer a virgin, ain't ye?"  
"Yes-no-damn it- how dare you ask me that!"  
"Aww, come on now luv. You can just ignore the fact I'm in me birthday suit." SLAP! "Or maybe not," he rubbed his sore cheek.  
**End Flashback  
**

Since then he had to deal with either freezing at night or donning at least a shirt at night. Neither of which he was very fond of, but it made Lucinda happy, so he went along with it, that and it kept his face from encountering any more abuse. That night as he was pulling an old shirt over his head Lucy asked him something unique.

"I've been stuck with these clothes for almost a week now, um… do you have any I could borrow?" She had been alternating between wearing her jacket and not and just walking around in her shift. And quite frankly, the mere smell of them was starting to confirm that she needed a change.

"I think I do, luv, follow me," they went into the room joined to his quarters. There were trunks of gold and gems, silks and statues and any other type of treasure one could name. "This here is me private stash." He walked to a closed trunk and kicked it open, inside were some of the fanciest gowns Lucinda had ever seen, not even Elizabeth Swan had such beautiful clothing. "Got these from the Cote d'Azur 'bout 3 months ago. Forgot all about it, never had any use for 'em, 'cept maybe sell 'em, but I think you could put 'em to better use."

"They're gorgeous," she picked up one delicately like she thought it was break if she was too rough. It was champagne colored with an orange and white underskirt, dark gold embroidery and lots of ivory lace caught her wide eyes. There were designs of flowers and vines stitched into the over dress, the same went for the white trim, the whole dress seemed to glow.

"They're yours," he told her.

"Really? I've never had anything so…so regal."

"Well, it's 'bout time you did," he imitated her. Just then the clock chimed midnight, as if on cue she yawned. "And it's also time for you to get to bed." She sat the dress back in the trunk reverently and slowly walked back in the bedroom and climbed under the soft covers, he laid down beside her.  
"Goodnight Jack," she put her head on the pillow and faced him.  
"'Night, luv," he stared at her until she fell asleep. When she did he slung an arm over her waist and soon fell into dreamland himself.


	5. Taken to Tortuga

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing, zip, nadda, nothing 'cept my own characters. Well here is the newest chapter, enjoy. Hint-this contains corsets, Tortuga and some familiar faces. Oh, R&R I do so enjoy hearing how I'm doing.

**Chapter 5**

Around noon the massive ship docked in the shady port of Tortuga, but Lucinda was still fast asleep. She had spent the whole night talking again with Anna Maria while her host was busy arguing with his first mate about what supplies they needed most, one insisting on new ruder chains the other for more barrels to hold greater amounts of rum. So Jack had the glorious duty of waking her up, the one thing he didn't like about her was that she was not a morning person. He was used to getting up early every day to attend to his captainly duties aboard the Black Pearl, and never was awake later then 6 if he had to be. She on the other hand had worked at night since she was 13 and was used to sleeping late, and she deeply enjoyed her late lifestyle.

Jack stood in front of the closed door to his cabin, took a deep breath and carefully opened it. A single form that greater resembled a sack of laundry then a person lay in the very center of a four poster bed, which was heavily nailed to the floor. Since he couldn't have his sleep interupted by a rogue wave so he'd insured that his taste in furniture didn't clash with living at sea.

"Wake up luv," he shook her shoulder a few times. One of her arms flew out of a pile of sheets and nearly hit him square in face, luckily after two weeks of practice with this he had learned to dodge her. He wasn't so lucky the first few time he tried though, and he still remembered the sting from it, she hit harder then any of his previous….encounters.

"Five more minutes," she grumbled from under her pillow.

"No more minutes me pretty, we in Tortuga now, time to stretch ye legs on some solid ground." Then he pulled the blankets off of her, causing the hem of her shift to rise up her leg. He raised his eyebrows, ' she got nice legs,' he thought.

"Hey!" she pushed the flimsy fabric back down past her knees and glared at him only to see that he had already vacated the mattress. 'Mostly likely to save his own skin,' she thought.  
"Time to get dressed," he went into his private stash room looking uncommonly excited. After a few minutes of listening to him grumble of this and hearing the thump of that being thrown he came out with a maroon dress across his arm then laid it out for her to see. "I want ye to wear this one, it's me favorite, savvy." She took a good look at it and ran her fingers along the plush fabric. The over dress was the maroon part and made of velvet with trim of blood red lace, the under skirt of a thin silk of a dark cream which also had the blood hued embellishment but this time in the form of embroidery along the skirts hem.  
"Wow, I never saw this one before," she wondered if he had over heard her tell Anna-Maria that red was her favorite color. By the look of smugness on his face it seemed that he had, either that or he had been spying or Anna had let it slip accidentally on purpose. Both were very likely, the latter though was her best guess.

"I'll get Maria to help ye into it," he made an elaborate bow to her and left the room. Soon her friend had entered the room and was tugging on the strings of her new stays, they had also been found in the infamous private stash.

"How can those rich women stand this every day of their lives?" Lucy wheezed and held tighter onto the post of the bed.  
"Who knows! Maybe ye can convince Jack to buy ye some breeches in town," Anna answered. About half an hour later they had finished and the girl pirate went to tell the Captain that Lucinda was ready. He came back in the room and circled her like a hawk around fresh meat, the mental image that presented made her stifle a laugh and he cock a brow her way.

"Why are you doing that?"

"Seeing how ye look," then he saw her unbound hair flowing over her shoulders and twirled a lock in his hand. "She didn't fix yer hair?"

"Huh? Oh, I didn't really think about it, I thought I could just braid it or something."  
"Hold on," he puled out a comb and began to run it threw her long locks. Though she didn't tell him so, for fear that he would never cease tormenting her over it, the feeling of him brushing her hair gave her goose bumps. Not only was her hair her favorite feature it was also a weakness of sorts, her mother had discovered that if her daughter was upset all one needed to do was run a comb through her thick tresses to calm her down.

Although at the moment calm was the last thing that she was feeling. Once he was totally satisfied that no knots had escaped him he pulled half of it onto the back of her head into a bun with some pins he found on the dresser. Then he told her wait there for a few minutes, so she rocked back and forth on her heels waiting. When he came back he held a hot poker in his hand.

"What are you gonna do with that?" she asked, a little afraid eyeing the obviously dangerous fireplace tool.

"Hold very still," taking the end of a section of her hair he quickly wrapped it around the poker. It stayed there for a few seconds until he unwrapped it, it fell to her back in a long spiral curl. Sparrow repeated this with the rest of her hair until all of it that was loose was in perfect curls.  
"Whoa, where did you learn to do that?" she asked as she toyed with some of it and spun just to watch it bounce around her.

"Got captured one time in Singapore. The guy who got me said I had to take care of 'is harem before I could leave. So I had to find something to please 'im with, so I took a poker to the ladies hair." The rest of the story could be saved for another time…it wasn't really for ladies ears.  
"You sure do get around," she looked at him. Jack grinned knowingly and gallantly offered his arm to her, purposely doing a very entertaining imitation of a dandy.  
"Well, shall we go, me'lady," she took his offered arm and walked out to the longboats.

The _Interceptor 2_

"We should be docking sometime this evening, sir," said a young sailor to Will.  
"Good, you can go," he went from his place on deck below to where Amanda and Emma were playing cards with each other. "We'll be at Tortuga tonight, ladies."  
"Do you think that he'll still be there, Will?" asked Emma.

"We may be a week and a half behind him but Jack will be there, of that I have no doubt.

Like I said before, he needs supplies but he'll stay in town for a while to sell stolen goods and go drink and lay low. We'll find him."

"Now what about the treasure you said he would going after?" Amanda questioned and put down another card.

"I'll figure that out when the time comes. Right now we need to find a way of getting your sister back and not have him around."

Tortuga 

"Would ye like a tour?" Jack asked the girl on his arm.

"Alright." She was both curious and a little nervous about the seedy town.

"Well, lets see, there's a bar, it's the Faithful Bride, that would be a pub over there, a tavern there, oh that there is a whore house and this is me favorite bar." He pointed to a rather large building with a hanging sign that said The Buxom Swedish Meatball on it.

"What kind of name is that supposed to be?" she asked.  
"The bloke who owns it is Swedish. Plus it's the only bar in the world that sells Swedish meatballs. I don't recommend 'em though, ye don't see any cows 'round here do ye?" She made a face at the thought of what someone would use if there weren't any cows to use. A rat ran by and that pretty much answered her question. "Come on then, luv," and they went into the crowded bar. The night went on with drinking, talking, a couple fights, more drinking and a lot of singing very drunkenly. Near 2 a red headed woman walked up to Jack followed by a blond and brunette. "Scarlet, Giselle, Katrina!" They stood around him and each one took a turn at slapping him hard in the face.

"Who's she?" asked the blond Giselle.

"Her? This here is Lucinda," he patted her head like he would a pet.  
"Jack Sparrow you're impossible!" said Scarlet.  
"A girl in every port, typical!" commented Giselle.  
"How long until you drop her off, huh?" asked Katrina. That caught Lucinda's attention and she turned her head to look at Jack.  
"What does she mean by 'drop me off,' hmm?"

"I have no idea, luv," he slurred. The three women exchanged glances then faced her.  
"Has Jack told you about how many women he's been with, sugar?" Lucy looked at the red head and answered no.

"Like I said before," said Giselle, " a girl in every port, most of 'em with a little reminder of his visit."

"That would be me," added the brunette she patted her belly.

"Really?" Lucy looked at Jack accusingly. "Well, I've heard enough for one night," she got up and headed for the door, her hands balled into fists.

"Aww, come on now luv, no need to get all upset," he tried to get out of his chair but only fell to the floor after tripping over his own feet.

"Men," the three working girls muttered and left him there.

**The _Black Pearl_**  
"I never should have trusted him, Anna," Lucinda growled as her friend unlaced her stays.  
"I should have told ye 'bout his way with women, but I thought ye already knew, I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, but once he's sober I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind."  
"Now that would be a sight to see," laughed the black girl. Suddenly the cabin door flew open and Jack swayed in finishing a bottle of rum.  
"Out, Maria, I needs to talk to Lucy, alone." She gave Lucinda one last glance before leaving, Jack shut the door behind her. The room's other occupant was untying the false hips around her waist, he walked up to her. "Sorry 'bout what happened in the bar, I didn't knows those girls were there."

"It doesn't bother me. Why should it? If you want to sleep around with three or more women in each port you go to and get them pregnant that's your choice. I have no claim to your affections," she said airily.

"But you 'ave mine." His breath tickled the tiny hairs on the back of her neck. She faced him and stared right into his black rimmed brown eyes, and he did the same into her own green ones.  
"What do you mean?" she asked, a hitch in her breath when he leaned in closer.

"I mean that you've 'ad my affections since the day I met ye," he told her. His head began to lean in towards hers and to her surprise she started to tilt her head up to meet his. But just as their lips were about to meet his eyes rolled back in his head and he dropped to the floor. All that rum had finally taken its affect and he had passed out.  
"Alright, so much for my first kiss," she sighed. She picked up his arms and lifted him onto a little couch and pulled a blanket over him. Soon as she was done she climbed into the bed and fell into a deep sleep, but couldn't help but feel like something big was going to happen, whether or not it had to do with his almost kissing her she didn't know. But she did know that something was indeed abut to change.

**The Next Day**

Jack woke up to the sounds of yelling and pounding on his door and the lurch of the ship as it was trying to make a hasty escape. "What the 'ell?!" he fell off the couch and clutched his hung-over head.  
"Captain! Open up!" it was Joshamee Gibbs, his first mate. But Jack could only think of his aching head, so Lucinda had to answer the door. "Ms. Lucy, where's the Captain?" he asked urgently.  
"Over there," she pointed to the floor by the couch.  
"Captain! We're under attack!" Gibbs ran over and tried to haul Jack to his wobbling feet.

"What do ye mean 'under attack?' Who would attack the _Black Pearl_ in the harbor of a pirate town?"


	6. Intrigue and the Interceptor

**Disclaimer:** Saying I don't own anything is starting to get redundent -.- So if you don't see it in the film it's mine-if not use yo' brain. On a happier note I would like to thank you all for all the messages that have been sent my way I'm glad that my story is well-liked, it's taken me a while to fix it up again. Enough with my blabbing-on with the fic!

P.S. This happens to be a Long chapter compared to the others-lots of juicy details, thought you might like that ;) And I apologize for the longer then usual wait.

**Chapter 6**  
"It be a Royal Brit ship, sir! The_ Interceptor 2 _from what the crew be sayin'!" Lucinda's head shot up, the _Interceptor 2_ was the fastest ship in the Royal navy, it's predecessor was said to have been wrecked by Jack himself. But he had told her it had been because of his former first mate, a man named Barbosa; now he she had heard of before, when she'd overheard a conversation between Will and Elizabeth.

"It's what?! Oww, well send a messenger an' see what they want!"

"Aye sir!" Mr. Gibbs ran off.

"Here Jack, you should sit down," she laid him on the bed.

"No woman, I need to be with me crew," he tried to sit up but got dizzy and fell back down.  
"You won't do them any good with a hangover that won't let you shout one command without grabbing your head! I'll go out and see what's goin' on, you stay here." He grabbed her hand and looked into her eyes, they told her 'be careful,' as it seemed like he didn't quite know how to say it with his lips, then he let her go. On deck the short battle had stopped when William Turner of all people came aboard can began arguing with the first mate.

"I know she's here Mr. Gibbs! Tell me where!" Anna- Maria saw her from across the vessal and nudged at her with her head, trying to signal for her to hide. But it was too late, Will had noticed her and ran over to her at once.

"What are you doing here? I thought you would be home!" Lucy stared at her friend with eyes large as saucers.

"Miss Lucinda, are you alright? Did he treat you very badly? Are you ill, or hurt, or-"

"Will, quiet! What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about Jack!"

"What about him?"

"He kidnapped you, and brought you here of all places."

"And what's wrong wit' Tortuga? I told ye once Will that if every town in the world were like this place no man would feel rejected," came a voice from behind them.

"Jack! What are you doing up?" Lucinda went over to him.

"I ain't lettin' ye handle this on yer own." He tried to draw his sword but ended up spinning around and falling on his knees. "But, I think ye can, for now, just wait till the ship stops spinnin'."  
"Jack Sparrow," said a tall, fierce looking man in an Admiral's uniform who walked toward them.

"That's Captain Jack Sparrow," the pirate corrected.  
"You are charged with kidnapping a civilian of Great Britain, and with such a charge you are to be arrested. Unless of course you give up the girl willingly, if not you are to come with me to face court." Will stared at Jack who was using Lucy's shoulder as a head rest.  
"I ain't givin' up nothing. Who gave ye orders to arrest me?"  
"Governor Weatherby Swan of Port Royal, I suggest you make your decision quickly," the man sneered down his hooked nose. Jack glared at the Admiral, Will looked at Jack with an anxious expression, and Lucinda glanced at each of them. All the sudden Amanda and Emma came over on the plank connecting the two ships and stopped when they saw Jack resting in their sister's arms.  
"Lucy!" Emma called and tried to run to her but a solider held her back, telling her that it was dangerous to be too close to the pirate Captain. That took the attention of many people on deck, and Jack saw it. He gave a slight signal to Anna-Maria and Gibbs, they in turn gave it to the rest of the crew as quickly as possible. When most of the pirates got the message they waited for the Captain's call, while Amanda and Emma were arguing with the Admiral about being able to get to Lucinda, then Jack made his move.  
"Now!" All the pirates went out and began fighting off the soldiers, some fell over board, others ran back to their own ship, some dropped to the deck wounded. Anna- Maria shoved the two Collins sisters onto the _Interceptor2_ and pushed the plank into the water with a satisfying "splash." Soon the _Black Pearl_ was speeding away from it's enemy at top speed.

"Bring me to the helm, luv," Jack told Lucy. She put one of his arms over her shoulder and heaved him from the deck and walked up to the platform where the helm was.

"You know, for a man who can guzzle rum as much as you do, it sure does have some interesting after affects on you."

"It's 'cause I don't spew it up like most blokes do, savvy." They made it to the helm and she let him take over, and she looked out towards the ship her sisters and friend were on.

"Where're we going?" she asked.  
"To me treasure, they'll never find us there."  
"Why's that?"  
"Cause only I know where it is," he held up his compass. She looked down at it, after a few moments of examining it her eyes widened. She thought he had a few skrews loose in the first place, but how could anyone navigate with a compass that couldn't point North?  
"Um, Jack, are you sure that thing is working right?" she tapped it a couple times.

"Yeah. Ye see me treasure is hidden in a place that I want to go, so," he smiled slyly, "this compass shows me what I want."

"Oh."  
The trip to the treasure took five days, counting all the extra stops for supplies since their original trip was interupted. That and the fact that Jack noticed that every other time he used his precious compass that it would spin wildly for some time, as if it was having trouble deducing what he really wanted. Their run- in with the Royal Navy had canceled the days agenda of selling goods and getting more food, water and of course the most essential part for survival, rum. At least it was the most essential part, according to Jack, which gave Lucinda the conclusion that the man must have the stuff running through his veins (along with salt water) in place of blood.

But the last thing on her mind was rum when she finally saw all the gold stored in the caves half filled with water. The cave was hidden under an island, Jack had said that the house on the highest hill there was his grandparents', then his parents and now his. Apparently pirating ran in his family, after ransacking ships near Madagascar his mother's parents had built a 'summer home' here in the Caribbean. Not only that but when they did they brought their riches which were then combined with his father's when his own parents married. And now he added in his own to the family deposit.

"What ye think of me treasure?" Jack asked her. Nodding was all she could accomplish, she had never seen so many riches in her life; everywhere she looked there were chests full of gold coins, piles of jewelry, long beads of pearls and just about any item of value imaginable. With the _Black Pearl_ safely anchored outside and hidden, the pirates disembarked and went to collect as much as they could. Rumors were that a hurricane was heading toward the direction of the island along with the Royal Navy to boot.  
Later that day the entire crew planned to celebrate both escaping the fastest ship in the British Navy and having a hull full of gold just waiting to be sold on the black market. When Lucinda heard of what they were going to do she was making the bed in the Captain's cabin. Jack had come in finishing a conversation with Mr. Gibbs, "as fer the party to night make sure there's enough rum fer ten rounds, each," he laughed and shut the door.

"What do you mean 'party,' Jack?"

"Why we be celebratin' our good fortune, luv." It was then when she noticed the smell. At first she thought something had died just outside the ship, but when she checked out the porthole nothing was there. They hadn't left any food in the room, so it couldn't have been some rotten lunch from last week. Then she sniffed the air and caught where exactly the rancid stench was coming from, Jack.

"Um, Jack, when was the last time you had a bath?" she asked tentatively.

"A bath? Oh, I donno, I say, 'bout two months, maybe three or four." She nearly had a heart attack as she took in what he just said.

"Three or four months?" she squeaked. "How could you go so long without taking a bath?" And she wasn't even in the upper class, it was sad that she took more baths then Jack did.

"Donno, I just do," he reclined in his chair. She scoffed at his lack for hygiene, then got an idea and walked out the door. "Where ye goin', luv?"

"I'll be back in 10 minutes," she called from the deck. And she did come back 10 minutes later, with Anna -Maria, Mr. Gibbs and herself bringing in a tin tub and two baskets filled with soaps, one very tall bottle of vinegar, and a huge basin filled with steaming hot water. The two crewmen (or crewoman in Anna's case) left, snickering at their Captain leaving him and Lucinda alone.

"What ye got all that stuff fer, luv?" he asked.

"To put it frankly Jack, you stink!"

"I do not!" He smelled himself under the arm and recoiled, she could have sworn that she saw his face turn green. "Alright then, maybe just a little. Um, what the vinegar for, luv?"

"Little is not the word, so I'll leave and you can take that long needed bath. And the vinegar is for your hair, who knows what's crawling around in it."

"I ain't takin' no bath!"

"You take that bath or I'm going to make you take it!"

"An' how ye gonna make me take a bath?"

"I'll strip you down and wash you myself if I have to!" Then she realized what she had just said, even if she meant it as a threat he would play her bluff. 'No way he would do that to me,' she thought. Then she saw the evil grin he had on his face and knew that she was in deep trouble, 'yes he would,' she rethought.

"Will ye now?"

"I-I didn't mean it!"

"Too late, now ye haf to or I ain't takin' no bath." Sparrow seemed quite smug. She thought over the situation; either she bathed him and scarred her mind with the image that would imprint on her or she would deal with his stench for god knows how long most likely in the middle of nowhere. There were two possible outcomes, neither would be considered the up side, but she had to choose.

"Alright, fine I'll do it. But only because I can't stand the way you smell!"

"No need to all upset, luv. Now I believe ye said that ye would 'strip me down' yeself." A growl came from her and walked over to him and gave him her best death glare and sworn to herself that she would find some sort of revenge.

"Stand up," he did. She took off the leather straps that held his sword and guns then pulled the brown over coat off his arms and let it drop to the floor. Next she pushed his tricorn hat and red bandana off his head, they landed on top of his coat. Piece by piece she removed his clothing and let them fall to the wooden floor and soon he was sitting in the steaming water.

"An' I also believe ye said that ye would wash me as well," he smirked at her. He saw the way she was desperately trying to not look at him, and that only boasted his ego, which was even bigger than his ship anyway. She growled again when he said that and turned around slightly, but only half regretted it. Luckily he had one leg draped over the other, so she couldn't see anything past his hips, but the rest of him was in clear sight. The visible part of his body was lean with tight muscles and browned by many hours spent in the sun. His chest was covered with a thin layer of curly black hair, as were the lower parts of his arms and leg, there was some going from his navel down but she tore her eyes away before she saw any more. "Ye like what ye see, darlin'?"

"I'm not answering that question." She handed him the nearest bar of soap and a rag then turned around. But instead of hearing the sound o f scrubbing and rinsing, she heard him clearing his throat as if he wanted her attention. "What now?"

"Ye said that ye would wash me too," he said it as if it were no thing.

"I said no- oh wait I did didn't I?" He shook his head yes and smiled as she picked up the sponge and started to scrub his back.

"This is enslavement," she mumbled.

"There ain't no law against it where me or ye come from."

"There ain't no way I'm gonna be your slave."

"And I was so looking foreword to it," he pretended to have his feelings hurt. She flipped the sponge over to the ruff side and scrapped it against a fresh wound. "Damn woman I was only kidden' with ye!"

"Well then don't make sick jokes." He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, she was wearing what used to be a white shirt, but it was dirty and faded and a pair of brown breeches. 'Musta got em' from Anna -Maria,' he knew she couldn't wear the fancy gowns he gave her every day. Then he got a an idea, a horribly genius idea that only he could pull off.

"Hey, luv what's that over there?" She had only turned her head a few seconds when she felt a pair of arms go around her waist and was yanked into the tub.

"Wha the 'ell?!" she sputtered out soapy water.

"I thought since I haf' to take a bath then so do ye," he turned her to face him. Her hair was sticking to her face and down her back, and because it was soaked it looked as black as his when it was dry. The shirt she had on was clinging to her like a second skin, fitting to her body which was more curvy then most women had, and he had known a lot of women. (Most of them were rather skinny from poor food, but she was a bigger and fuller build) That was when she noticed she was in his lap, her face became the brightest shade of red he had ever seen when she felt something hard poking her thigh. But before she could climb out he held her back by her hips and sat her flat on his legs. She stopped moving and stared right into his eyes, one of his hands came to her wet cheek and rubbed it with his callused thumb. And to his and her surprise she leaned into it and closed her own eyes. Just as he was about to claim her lips the door swung open.

"Capt- oh you're busy," it was Anna -Maria and Mr. Cotton, "we'll get ye for the party later." That was all the time Lucy needed and she got out of the tub, saying she had to get some air and left.

"Damnit!" he splashed the soapy water like a tamper tantrum throwing toddler, which spewed in his eye. "Ouch!"

**The _Interceptor 2_**

"Well, what the bloody hell are we gonna do now?" Emma paced the room she shared with her sister on the ship, her green skirt twisting around her, least to say she was not happy. "Did you see them? He was getting all cozy in her lap while her was surrounded by soldiers! He's been using her all this time, I know it!" Amanda was unusually calm, and her sibling noticed, "how can you just sit there?" She shrugged her shoulders and stood up and looked out the porthole to stare at the sea.

"Maybe she doesn't want to be rescued, stickbug" she whispered, using her little sister hated nick name.

"How can you of all people think that?"

"You're too young to understand. I'm gonna go have a talk with Will." She went down the hall to the room her friend was staying in and knocked on the door, but didn't wait for him to answer and walked in. He was scrambling to put away a tiny gold locket with a miniature portrait of Elizabeth inside, but she almost completely ignored it.

"Will we need to talk."

"Of course, have a seat," he pulled a chair out from a small desk.

"Do you want to discuss your sister?"

"Actually, yes. How could you tell?"

"You seem worried, you hardly worry, it's not in your nature."

"Well, now I have reason to," she paused. "I think Lucy may have feelings for Jack." Will was taken back and leaned into the wall at the back of his bed and folded his arms over his chest.

"If she does, it can't be good."

"I know he's a pirate, William," she put on her sarcastic face.

"Obviously, but he's had so many women, and he never stays with a single one for long. He may be my friend but I can't let him hurt an even dearer one, so..." he trailed off.

"So what?"

"So I've decided to abide by the Governors that if he won't give up Miss Lucinda then I'll have him put under arrest and brought back to Port Royal for a trial."

"You'd bring your friend to the court where he could he found guilty and hanged?"

"When he left town the last time the Governor agreed to let him go free because Jack had saved his daughter and became some what of a friend of hers. But, he also said that if Jack were to commit any more crimes to the city then he would be treated as any other common pirate."

"You would do that to your own friend? Will that's not you, it's so harsh!"

"Think of your sister! He drops off most of his lovers in Tortuga, and do you know what happens to those women? They go work in the brothel or end up with his child; do want that for your older sister?"

"No, but what if, what if he returns any of the feelings she might have for him?"  
"Then I would be truly surprised."  
"I think I've heard enough," she got up and began to leave.  
"Amanda, if there were any other way, I'd do it."

"I know you would," she said sincerely and left. The Admiral came in after her and stood before Will, he was silent, waiting for the boy to speak first.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of your presence?"

"I overheard your conversation with the girl and think you have made a wise decision to arrest Sparrow."

"I did it because I had to, not because I had to. What have you decided to do about Miss Lucinda? What if he won't give her up or she won't leave him?"

"If the girl has joined him then she deserves the same fate."

"But you said she would be safe from that! She had committed no crime!"

"If she wants to stay with the pirate she might as well be one herself. And who knows what she has done while she was with him."

"You said-"

"That is enough Mr. Turner, remember your place! You are the one who wanted this mission to recover your friend and you have to accept all that goes on! I suggest you figure that out, goodnight!" he slammed the door behind him.

"What have I done?"

**The Treasure Cove **

Lucinda pealed her wet shirt off her and tossed it into the pile of clothes at her feet and kicked off her flimsy shoes, they were soaked through. She had needed some time alone and think out all the emotions running a- muck through he head, so she escaped the party to bathe. Checking the depth of the water she poised her body and dove in perfectly and resurfaced feeling better already.

"Ha, that feels good, much better than that filthy tub," she pushed her hair back. When she heard about the party the pirates were planning she had escaped to be by herself. Not that she didn't like ruff house parties, she did, but she couldn't face Jack just yet. This had been the second time he had to kiss her and she had no idea how to react, she had never been kissed before and only had a vague idea of what it was like. (Courtesy of Amanda and her stories) Then she felt eyes on her back and swiftly turned around, covering her breasts in the process.

"Mind if I join ye?" Lucinda breathed a sigh of relief, it was only Anna- Maria.

"Not at all," she supposed that she was the best person to talk to about her 'Jack dilemma.' The other young woman was soon in the water as well washing her face and sighing in delight.

"Um, Anna, can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"How well do you know Jack?"

"Well enough, I s'pose, why?"

"Oh, no reason." Anna grinned at her the way Amanda did when she knew exactly what she was thinking and/or she was trying to set her up with a man.

"Ye like him, don't ye?"

"A little," she hid her mouth under the water and blew bubbles.

"Ye know he got the hots for ye." Lucinda choked on the water she was playing with and coughed it up, half not believing what she had heard.

"What did you say?"

"Ye heard me. It's obvious that he like ye, from the start he's been waitin' on ye hand and foot, he's never done that before for anyone. If it wasn't Jack we were talking about I could swear he was a man in love, but he's never been in luve and I donno if he ever will."

"Love? Why don't you think he couldn't love?"

"No one has ever luved him, the only thing he could remotely love would be _the Black Pearl_, other than that who knows."

"Well you never know, every one has to love some one at one time in their life."

"Are ye in love with the Captain?"

"No! I mean, maybe, I mean, I have no idea," she dropped her forehead on a rock and started banging it.

"Now don't hurt yourself over it. Why don't ye ask him, I don't think he would lie to ye." Lucy's head shot up and she looked at her as if Anna had grown a second head, "it wouldn't hurt to try," she finished.

"Just ask the man if he loves me? It's crazy, it's ludicrous, it's insane….do you really think it'll work?"

"I can only guess." Lucinda thought a moment then pulled herself out of the water and dried off with the towel she had brought with her. "I guess I could hint at it, who knows, bye!"

"Bye, good luck!" The English girl ran out of the cove, "he already loves ye," she said that to herself then resumed washing.

Top of Form 1


	7. Parties and Confessions

**Disclaimer:** Disney owns all, that means Jack, Will, Elizabeth….all the theme parks, the rides……and all the Miyazaki films (sobs) damn him for selling out…..Anyway welcome back to the story. Hope you all are enjoying the ride, this chappie is short but there is some more Jack/Lucy interaction but of course things can never be so easy. Although I will give you-my loyal readers-a hint. The next chapter will have (drum roll please)…….an extreme plot twist and a life changing decision. There, no more, no less and now enjoy chapter 7!

**Chapter 7**

She walked back to the huge ship, wringing out her long, soaked hair as she did so, although it was difficult to avoid the puddles that formed right in front of her feet and she nearly found herself flat on her face several times because of them. Her head was all jumbled up with hundreds of thoughts, she was trying her best to think of a way to get Jack to admit if he had ever loved before…that and if he was able to now.

'Or if he loves **you**,' said a mocking little voice in her head. It had been bothering her since she left the cove, though she wasn't exactly sure if it was her conscience or an imp sent to torment her.

"Oh shut up," she mumbled to herself as she walked up the gangplank and onto the deck. There were sounds of the party coming from down below, most of it was drunken laughter followed the occasional punch or the tell tale cracking of a broken chair.

At first she thought Jack would be too intoxicated to even know what she said to him, that is if she even found him awake, but then she saw the lone figure leaning on the rail on the helm deck. The moonlight shined onto his features, giving Jack an eerie look to him. For once he was not wearing his hat, coat or all the odd things and effects he normally would be sporting. Tonight he simply relaxed in his old white shirt, sash above his breeches, and bandanna, but she also noticed he was clean. 'He must have finished his bath,' she thought surprised. After taking a deep breath four courage she proceeded up the stairs to him and tapped his shoulder.

"Jack?" he jumped at her touch and spun around.

"Jeez luv, don't spook me like that." She laughed at him, big bad pirate scared by little woman, it was a rather amusing thought. "What do ye need?"

"Nothing really, just wanted to talk," Lucy stalled and looked at the water, leaning over the intricate rail.

"'Bout what?"

"Dunno, how about you?" she turned to face him again.

"Me?" Jack seemed to like the idea of bragging about himself to a pretty girl, a cheeky grin spread across his tan face. "Alright, waddya want to know?"

"Oh, I don't know. What about those girls back in Tortuga, what's between you and them?" He thought for a moment, twisting and curling his beard in his fingers while made a 'humming' noise.

"I guess ye could call 'em old flames, that is if ye want to count some rather long term encounters with the workin' ladies, savvy," he smirked. That was about what she had expected to hear. So in common English he said that he had some extended time with some clingy prostitutes who didn't know when a customer like him was finished. Now she came to the hard part of her venture.

"So you don't have feelings for any of them?"

"Nah, not me," he laughed out loud. For some reason the way he answered hit a nerve. She didn't know why but she didn't want to think that he didn't care about the woman he was currently with.

'What are you doing? You've never been with a man before so why are you so upset?' asked the pesky voice from before. 'You're right, why should I care? I only want him as a friend anyway.' But deep down she knew it wasn't true, she had grown fond of him, very fond indeed, fond enough to almost utter the 'L' word even though she had only known him a mere month. For days she had telling herself that it couldn't possibly be as strong as her long shielded heart had been hinting to what she thought was a reasonable mind.

"Okay, um about earlier today..." she trailed off.

"Sorry 'bout that, I thought it would be a good joke," he knew he was lying through his teeth. "I didn't know it would make ye angry or anything. Sometimes I forget all girls ain't like the ones I'm used to."

"I forgive you, just don't do it again."

"Deal, now enough borin' talk. Let's go down to that party, ye seem too glum, come on," he grabbed her hand and practically dragged her below deck. All night they gambled, drank, sang, drank some more, danced, and played drinking games. By 4 in the morning Lucy was drunk as a skunk and using Jack as a crutch as they stumbled into their room, intent on getting some sleep, or at least she was. There was also in the back of her mind to keep most of the rum away from her from now on, this was starting to become a very bad habit.

"Now that was a party!" he took a swig from the flask he had with him.

"Yeah-hic-it was."

"Ye remember the last-hic- time we were at a party an' I got drunk?" he asked her.

"Hic-yeah I do," she collapsed onto the bed face first.

"Do ye remember what I said?"

"Kinda," she lifted her head to see him. But it was so dark she could only see his outline, so she flopped back down.

"I think I said 'ye had me affections since the day I met ye,' right?" Lucinda thought hard for a moment, but the rum was starting to have its affect on her brain and she barely could think. "I was tellin' the-hic- truth," he laid down beside her.

"Really?" she smiled lopsidedly.

"Yeah," he smiled back and ran a finger down her cheek.

"Remember when I got so pissed at you-hic-in town and you tried to kiss me?"

"Uh-huh," he took another drink and leaned on one elbow.

"It sucked you passed out," her eyelids began to grow heavy.

"Why's that, luv?"

"Cause I wanted you to kiss me," with that she yawned and was sleeping within seconds. He looked at her in complete shock and pushed a lock of hair from her face and put his head on his pillow, the flask was forgotten on the floor. Carefully, or at least as carefully as he could manage, he pulled the blankets over them.

"G'night, luv." He wrapped his arms around her waist, leaned his head on top of hers and was asleep just as quickly as she.

**The next morning**

Lucinda woke up to two things, one was the headache that pounded on her like one of Will's hammers, the other was the arm draped on her with it's hands dangerously close to her breasts. She tried to remove it, but it only held on tighter, and the man beside her grunting something about some 'bloody Commodore' and 'damn ye Squid Face.' Then she wriggled around to get the thing to just fall off her, but it had the same reaction as trying to pull it off, so now it was crushing her along with her lungs.

"Air," she wheezed. She decided that was enough and she did the one thing that put Jack in his place (and out of dreamland), "SLAP!" he woke up.

"AHHH, who did that?" he looked down.

"Let me go-can't breathe!" He let her go, but he did it so fast that she fell right off the bed and landed on her butt with a grunt. "Oh my aching head!"

"Now that sounds familiar," he said. He looked over the edge of the bed and saw her holding her head and she glared up at him. "I thought ye said ye'd been workin' in a bar for 6 years, so why ye actin' as if ye never 'ad a hangover before?"

"I've had a hangover, but you people drink like...like I don't know what."

"Why thank ye, darlin.' So, do ye remember anything from last night?" She thought hard for a few minutes, but her mind was a complete blank, so she shook her head 'no.' He on the other hand had gotten so used to getting drunk that he recalled everything that went on the night before, including the part where she admitted that she wanted him to kiss her. Now that, in his opinion was a complete disappointment, he had wanted her to at least say she knew about that. 'Wouldn't mind grantin' her request either.'

"Are you just gonna sit there or are you gonna help a lady up?"

"Sorry, luv, I was off in me own world for a minute there." Holding a hand down at her, she took it and he pulled her to her feet, but she became dizzy and had to use the bedpost to steady herself.

"Do I even want to know what you were thinking?"

"Maybe," he grinned, his gold teeth glittering in the sunlight.

"And to me that means I won't ask," she cringed at the sound of her slightly horse voice, "is breakfast ready?"

"As soon as me own head stops hurtin'."

"Sounds good to me." They fell back and would have possibly have had some quiet time if not for the unwanted guest who came in.

"Rise an' shine Captain! Time to get up Miss Lucy!" it was Gibbs with another crewmember with a parrot carrying a tray of food. Said parrot joined in as well, "shiny in the sky! Man the guns!"

"Why?" Lucinda whispered to herself, this was the one thing she hated about living on Jack's ship, the abnormally early mornings. The tray was sat down on the table in the center of the room and the intruders left, but only when they were sure that their great leader was fully awake. "What did they give us?"

"Well let's see," he studied the food. "Looks like fish, bread, and waddya know, rum." She paled at that and muttered something about never drinking a drop of alcohol again and flopped back down on the bed.


	8. I Choose You

**Disclaimer: **Hello again all! If you haven't realized by now that I don't own anything save for my own characters….then well…..to say it bluntly….you're dumb. Anywho, welcome back. I've been trying to update once a week for this, for any of you who have mentioned quick updates, due to my college classes you can expect a new one about every Tues. of Wed. My usual thankx go out to all those who review my beloved story.

Honorable mention goes to **MyPirateJack **for never failing to review each chapter as it comes up, hugs to ye from me!

**Chapter8**

They waited at the cove for a few days until they headed back to Tortuga for the land leave they had failed to get last time, due of course to their lovely visit from the Royal Navy. Once the ship was stocked full and the crew sated and ready after several days Jack, against the bothersome feeling in his stomach, went to find Lucy. After much thought he had decided that it was time for her choose what she wanted to do, to go home to Port Royal or, hopefully in his opinion, stay with him on the _Pearl_. He found her with Anna- Maria, as always, talking and laughing about anything and everything as they leaned on the railing.

For the first time in his life Jack Sparrow felt nervous about speaking to a woman, sweat began to coat his palms the closer toward her he walked, he tried to wipe them dry as he moved. Another odd feeling, like fluttering insects, made his stomach queasy, at first he tried to pass it off as whatever he had eaten the night before then remember he had forgotten to eat dinner due to his fretting over today. The feeling continued and finally he came to the conclusion that it felt ominously like butterflies.

"I need to talk with ye, luv," he whispered in her ear and gestured awkwardly at the cabin. Lucy nodded as if she already knew what he wanted and followed close behind, giving Anna one smile when Jack wasn't looking. They went into the quarters they shared and he shut the door tight behind him, so no one would eavesdrop, and he knew some would- especially Pintel and Ragetti. Those two had less manners then he did when it came to the fairer sex…that and they knew if this one girl was involved they would have quite the performance to watch.

"What is it, Jack," she didn't sound very curious.

"I want to know what ye decided on doin', are ye staying here, or back with yer sisters." She closed her eyes for a moment, she had thought all of the previous night on this, knowing once the ship was prepared for a new round of plundering he would ask her this. "What's yer answer?" Her eyes opened and she ran her hand over the dining table, almost sadly, her fingertips following each dip and grove, some made with knives others with scorch marks from fallen candles.

On the outside the captain looked but one calm and swayed a little on his boot heels, trying to appear normal-or as close to it as he could possibly be. But on the inside he was near panic, the way she was looking at that table grimly reminded him of himself when he had to look back at the _Pearl _as she stolen away from him those several times. A look of hopelessness…'she's leavin'…oh bugger…' he thought. '….Please anything but that,' he didn't know who exactly he was asking, but he hopped that whoever was listening would pity a pirate and let him have just this one thing in his less then perfect life.

"I hope Amanda can keep Emma in check without me, she can be the equivalent of the spawn of Satan at times, but I'm sure she can handle it," she smiled pleasantly at him. At that moment he almost had a heart attack, if fact he could swear that he felt it skip several beats before getting stuck somewhere in the vicinity of his throat. Did she say what he thought she just said? "And I suggest you tell the crew get used to another female around permanently, Anna and I have big plans for this place. It's so dusty I could write a novel on this table alone, it's barely livable!"

"Ye mean ye're staying, permanently, like ye said?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"AYE!" he sped across the room, lifted her up by her hips and spun around in circles, like one would a child.

"Whoa, Jack! You're making me dizzy!" he sat her down. Years later he would be able to explain the elation he felt that day in one simple word, but at the present he was more then a little cautious on uttering the 'L' word, as was she. They would learn to get over their shyness and speak that word for first time soon enough though.

For about two hours more they discussed about what she could do on the ship, she said her father was sailor and had taught her how to work on a ship before he died. So she chose to do what everyone else did, swabbing the deck, fixing rigging and such, even if he was more then a little hesitant to let her. The reason he gave was that he didn't know how much experience she had, but really he just didn't trust some of the crew to treat her with the respect she deserved. After all she was a woman, so thanks to Mr. Gibbs superstitious beliefs the men thought they were going to die within the week, now that two women were on board for only Neptune knew how long. But Anna- Maria was overjoyed to hear that her new friend would be joining their rag-tag group.

"Finally, someone I can relate to!" she said later that day.

Some few days later the two women were sitting down on the deck, there had been no wind for hours and the sun was bearing harshly down upon the deck, both young women were in oversized shirts that reached their knees they had found in the hull. Luckily the fabric was light and what little breeze came along went through it to their hot skin.

"Oi it's hot!" Lucy wiped her brow with the back of her hand.

"I know, I hope the wind comes soon, how 'bout ye?"

"Uh-huh," they fanned their faces. Gibbs and another pirate, a very short man called Marty, were right next to them, and they overheard the men saying something about cabin fever. Marty thought that Jack was beginning to get it, Lucinda laughed and whispered to her friend,

"Jack has cabin fever every day of the week!"

"And 'ere I thought it was from swallowin' too much sea water raftin' with sea turtles!"

"Is that what ye two really think of me?" they looked up. The man in question was standing right in front of them, pouting, hands on his hips and tapping one booted foot, he very much resembled a little girl throwing a fit. They burst out laughing and he shook his head and went over to an extra barrel of water. He hoisted it up over his shoulder and went back to the women, he ripped open the lid and dumped it's contents all over them.

"Jack!" two screeches tore at his ears. Embarrassing them proved to be quite the show, white linen on a female plus water does not make a good match, especially with a crew of men around. But he forgot one thing, they could just as fast as him and there were two of them and one of him, so the next thing he knew he was soaking wet too.

Of course one would be after being thrown over board.

**Tortuga**

Katrina sat in a darkened corner, waiting for the man who had summoned her there by an anonymous letter the night before. In walked the Admiral Ragan, disguised of course as a common pirate, he sat beside her.

"Are you Katrina Smith?"

"Yeah. Who are you?"

"No one of real consequence. Tell me, who put you in your present state?" he pointed to her swollen belly, right to the point, this man.

"Why do you wanna to know?"

"Because a very reliable source, a woman named Scarlet I believe you know her, told me it was Jack Sparrow." For a moment she was silent then leaned toward him and folded her hands under her ample breasts.

"What do ye want?"

"I know the babe you carry has ruined your business for the past few months now, so I have a proposition for you." The man grinned an all together unsettling grin.

"What do ya have in mind?"

"I'll give you enough money to care for yourself until the child is born. Do whatever you want with it, drown it, sell it for all I care. But I'll continue to pay you, although there is a condition."

"What kinda condition?" She wasted no time asking any questions but the most basic and necessary, when it came to Jack Sparrow she wanted nothing more then the very most bitter sort of revenge.

"Where would Jack Sparrow go after gaining supplies? The wind is down and the weather is less then tolerable, where would he go at a time like this?" Silence came over the table as she thought for a moment; she hadn't been able to stand the sight of Jack Sparrow since she had found out the 'joyful' news that he had gotten her pregnant and he had disappeared soon after. Yes, this man would be the way she did it, 'Captain' Sparrow would be sorry he ever left her.

"Cuba," the working girl finally answered, "the sugar cane income will lore any pirate there. Now 'bout the pay?" The Navy man grinned and tossed a bag of gold on the table, she snatched it up greedily, already counting it.

"There will be more once I find him, though he better be where you say his is, or forget about the rest."

"Oh don't ya worry, he can't stay away from a booming business, it calls to 'im."

"It's been a pleasure working with you," he got up and left. Katrina smirked, 'he's finally getting what he deserves,' she thought as she ran her fingers through the gold coins.

**The _Interceptor 2_**

Amanda picked at her diner, her sister and Will had long since finished, but there was too much going on and she had lost her appetite since they retreated from the pirate ship. William sat down with her, he knew exactly what was on her mind.

"Do you wish to talk about it?" he asked her gently, his warm brown eyes filled with compassion for the young women who were like sisters to him.

"What about?"

"You know what I speak of, listen to me-"

"No you listen Will Turner! Your friend is going to be hung if you keep this up! Do you understand what I am saying? He's going to die!"

"If there were any other way I would do it, but he kidnapped your sister for heavens sakes! She's like a family to me, as are you and Emma, you were my family since I was nine years old. She means a lot to me, as she does to you."

"And she does to him! I saw it in their eyes when they were on deck together, they have feelings for one another! She may not know it, or even want to admit it, you know how Lucy is when it comes to relationships, she won't touch them! But I know love when I see it. He looked at her the same why you look at Elizabeth!" The blacksmith was silent, he never thought Jack would ever fall in love, least of all with one of his best friends…it just wasn't like him.

"I just worry about her. She may be fascinated with pirates, but she has never seen what they are capable of. It would be best if she leaves him on her own accord."

"And why is that?"

"Her life depends on it," was the near whispered answer as he got up and returned to his cabin silently. Emma came in after him and took his seat, her face anxious.

"Whose life depends on what, Amanda?"

"I have no idea but I'm going to find out. Where's that Admiral?" She walked down the corridors until she found who she was looking for in the mess hall. "Admiral Ragan!"

"Miss Collins, what a surprise." He stood and bowed politely to her.

"I have something to ask you."

"Go right ahead, miss, and do have a seat," he pulled out a chair.

"No thanks, I'd rather stand. Tell me, what are you planning to do with Jack Sparrow if he doesn't give up Lucy?"

"Why, protocol calls that he be arrested, tried and hung. You should know that, he's a pirate, they all get the same treatment," he poured a brandy.

"But what if Lucy wants to stay with him? It wouldn't be a kidnapping if the person who got taken doesn't want to leave." His polite exterior disappeared and was replaced with a cold face that sent a chill to her bones.

"Then she has become a pirate as well, and as I just said, all pirates get the same fate."

"You would hang her?"

"Miss Collins, this is not something a young woman such as yourself should be involved with. Now, I will be depositing you and your younger sibling in the next port until I finish what I have started." Her blue/green eyes flared in anger, her red hair almost frizzled up like a porcupine, usually when the locals at home saw this they backed away. She was not someone you would want to anger, but apparently he did not know this.

"You won't drop us off like extra baggage! I'm stayin' right here!"

"You forget your place, Miss Collins! I am Admiral here not you and if I say that you are to wait in another port, then that is what you will do! Good day!" he stormed off. Amanda stood there fuming and burned her eyes into his back as he stalked out of the hall. If there was one thing she never did it was stand around and do nothing, so she decided to get back at him, no matter what it took.


	9. Being Overprotective

**Disclaimer: ** I wish that I could say "I own Jack Sparrow" but I can't (sigh), the closest I can say that I own is the card board cut out of him I have in my room. Well here we are again, a new day, a new chapter and a brand new TURKEY waiting for me in the fridge! Happy (early) Thanksgiving everybody! I hope you all not only enjoy the fic but also your Turkey Day feast and be sure to watch the parade. Now go on and read away, cranberries for all!!

**Chapter 9**

**The _Black Pearl_**

Jack steered his beloved ship across the calm, cerulean water, the wind had finally returned, but the humidity unfortunately still bared down on them viciously. The pirate had been forced to strip down to his thin linen shirt and breeches, he couldn't even wear his boots or else his feet would sweat something terrible. At least the wooden deck hadn't heated much, must have been the oceans spray keeping it cool.

But at the moment he was planning his next plunder, a town he had in mind, they hadn't sacked one in some time. He was also thinking on how his roommate would take the venture, or if she was even ready for one. Sure she had agreed to stay with him, that had made him happier then he had ever been in his life, but how would she react when he had the crew raid a town, that was what was bothering him. At the thought of her changing her mind because she found the lifestyle too harsh he chest would constrict, he felt…hurt, just imagining it.

"Well, only one way to find out, 'ey Gibbs!" His first mate came running up to him. "Where's the nearest port town?" The other man thought a moment then ran to get a map, he soon came back and pointed to an elongated island in the North of the sea.

"That would be a port in Cuba, sir."

"Sugar cane capital of the world 'ey? Good, lots a loot there, set a coarse and 'ave Maria take the helm, I need to take care of some business, savvy?"

"Aye, aye sir," Jack swaggered down the stairs to find Lucy. When the cabin appeared empty he came back on deck but alas still no luck, until he looked up. Up in the rigging, that is, helping another sailor untie a knot was the lady in question, hanging in the ropes that held up the sails.

As she turned to come down again her foot came loose from the rope and she slipped down the rope at an alarming speed, the men up in the rigging shouted in alarm, positive her death was on their hands. But to Jack's (and the crew's) shock, she took hold of another rope hanging near by and swung down to the deck as if she had been on the ship all her life, doing an extra spin at the end no less.

"Where ye learn to do that?" Sparrow asked her, flabbergasted. He thought that she would have fallen into the sea or crash onto the deck from a fall at that height.

"I told you my father taught me a lot of things, he was on a ship like this. He always said me and my sisters must be part monkey," she acted as if it were nothing. After downing a ladle of water she headed for the cabin they shared and wiped the dust off her hands as she did.

"Now hold on, luv! Ye could have killed yeself!" he followed her.

"So could you or anyone else." She washed her hands in the porcelain basin then checked her face in the mirror for any smudges before she began to wash that too. He needed to calmed down, he didn't need to be angry when he told her about his plans about where they were going, but that wasn't easy when she was scarring him senseless.

"Luv, we need to talk," he ran a hand through his messy hair nervously. That caught her attention, Jack just didn't act nervous unless it was a real problem, she knew something was wrong.

"Sure, what about?" He proceeded to pace back and forth in front of the bed rubbing the back of his head, but after the ninth time she had had enough and grabbed him by the arms and forced him to face her. Jack looked down at her, the top of her head barely reached his chin, and took a deep breath.

"'Bout where I'm gonna set out for." He didn't wait for a reaction but kept on going, thinking it best to get this done and over with. "We're goin' to Cuba for our next raid in the town off the coast." She thought a moment, she tapped her long fingernails on his arm, though he rather liked the feeling of her nails on him.

"What exactly do you 'ave planned?"

"Basic raid, break in a few shops, empty some warehouses stuff like that," he shrugged. She nodded and sat down at the dining table.

"And let me guess, you are gonna lock me in here while you're doing this. Am I right?" That caught him off guard.

"Course."

"I thought as much. Now Jack, I'm not too crazy about this raid thing, but I did decided on this life so I might as well get used to it. But I hate being sheltered like some women. So if you plan to do somethin' you better include me in it." He was shocked to say the least, for once he didn't have a witty comeback.

"Well, it ain't safe for someone as inexperienced in piracy as yeself to go on this kinda outing," he explained. A thin eyebrow raised in his direction, she swayed over to him, no doubt mocking the way he himself walked.

"If you put it that way," her arms moved dramatically as she spoke. "Then I'll just have to take things into my own hands, do I not?" They stared at each, more like glared at each other until he threw up his hands and walked out grumbling…he still couldn't think of a comeback.

A few days later they arrived in Cuba, and that night the crew was preparing for the plunder, but Jack had something else on his mind. Lucinda was in their cabin pulling her long hair into a tight ponytail, she had borrowed more of Anna -Maria's clothes including some weaponry and look ready for battle.

"Where do ye think you're goin' darlin'?"

"With you and the others," she adjusted the ribbon holding her brown locks.

"Oh no, ye're not. Ye're staying right 'ere where ye can be safe!" She didn't even acknowledge that he was even there, instead she checked the balance of her cutlass. "Alright, if that's how it's gonna be, then so be it." He pulled a large brass key from his coat pocket, and that she saw.

"What are you gonna do with that?"

"Only what's best for ye, luv." He walked back to the door and slammed it shut, she ran to it and tried to push it open but he had his back to it. And Jack was much stronger than she was, and she was quite strong for a girl, then she heard the lock click.

"Jack Sparrow! You did not just lock me in here!" she shouted.

"I believe I just did, now if ye would excuse me I have a town to loot. Have a good evenin' me luv. And it's **Captain** for when yer all uppity at me, sounds better," she heard the crew leave the ship in a rush of pounding feet. Lucy went over to the bed and calmly picked up a pillow, brought it to her face and let out a loud, high pitched scream into it.

"How dare he do this to me! Just you wait, Jack, I'll get you for this!" It was then that she noticed the enormous liquor cabinet at the far end of the room, it hung just above a trunk full of clothes. She smiled evilly and sauntered over to it, horrible thoughts going through her pretty head.

The pirates returned hours later, each carrying as many riches as he/she could, others pulled carts of goods as well, all but Jack that is. He preferred to wear what he took, so he had long beads of pearls draped over his shoulders, a crown or two cocked to one side of his head and countless other things all over him. Least to say it was good night, not only lots of merchant vessels already unloaded of their cargo but one of the few Spanish treasure galleons left had decided to put into port. As he neared his quarters he heard a soft splashing sound and looked around but nothing had fallen overboard and all the crew was accounted for. He pulled out the key to his cabin and unlocked the door. The few candles on the walls, one candelabrum on the table, and the moonlight streaming through the wide windows lighted the room. And there, in the moonbeams stood Lucinda leaning over the windowsill, dropping bottles of rum into the sea and humming to herself!

"Ye crazy woman! What do ye think ye're doin'?!" Dropping his swag he ran over and wrestled the glass bottle from her smaller hands, but he only managed to break it on the wooden sill. "What's gotten into ye all the sudden? Why'd ye have to take it out on me rum?"

"It's what you deserve for locking me up like some pet! And besides, you drink too much of that stuff anyway," she crossed her arms over her chest.

"But why did it have to be me rum? Each time I get meself a good stash of rum someone 'as to burn it or throw it out a window!" He checked his cabinet, under half of his collection remained, he actually whimpered.

"Don't be such a big baby, it's only rum."

"Only rum?! Me rum is me life, savvy. I can't go on without it!"

"Shut up already! So you can't go on without your stupid alcohol I get the point!"

"It ain't stupid!" Now she had had enough, he was defending a drink for goodness sake!

"Fine! But this better teach you a lesson not to leave me behind again or else I'm gonna-" she was cut off by the sudden feeling of his lips on hers.

At first she was too startled to even move, then one of his hands held the back of her neck and tilted her head back and she melted into him. All her anger suddenly vented, she wrapped her arms around his middle and drew her nails down his back. He moaned and held her by her waist with his other arm and pulled her tighter against him. She tasted sweet, and he felt like he couldn't get enough of her. Never had he felt quite like this with any other woman, he couldn't explain it, all he knew was that he had waited long enough for her. The thoughts in her mind were the same as his, he was the first man she had ever kissed and she found that she like it, slowly she put one arm around his neck and ran her fingers through his hair. But they had to break apart for air sooner or later.


	10. I Love You, I'll Save You

**Disclaimer:** If I owned anything then I wouldn't be here, I would be lounging somewhere in France talking product business with Mr. Depp. Well I hope you all had a pleasant Thanksgiving I've just finished up this particular fanfic, so no need to worry about me giving it up, you can expect lots more chappies from me. And if I get some more reviews around X-Mas as presents then I'll give all of you some gifts in return…..say a double update around Christmas Day..?

**Chapter 10**

"Well, there's one way to shut you up," Jack said, his voice husky. She was speechless for once during their acquaintance and found she could only look into his deep brown eyes. But she soon enough regained her voice, with one question on her mind.

"Why did you kiss me?" She wouldn't tell him, yet, but for her first kiss she already thought he was a pretty good kisser.

"'Cause I wanted to, easy as that. Why?" still held her in the circle of his arms.

"Because I want you to do it again," she lifted her lips to meet his. He smiled, a true smile, and bent towards her, this kiss ten times more passionate than the first. His tongue traced the line between her lips, begging for entrance into her mouth. Tentatively they parted and let him in, she moaned and pressed harder against his hard frame. When they parted they found themselves some how sitting on the edge of the bed, not even remembering how they had gotten there. Jack gazed into her green eyes darkened by desire and saw them sparkle under the pale golden glow of the few lit lanterns in the room. She returned his gaze and found that his chocolate irises seemed lighter but mysterious due to the heavy kohl which lined them, but to her they were the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen.

"I 'ave something to tell ye, luv." he whispered.

"Yes," her own voice was just as quite.

"This ain't gonna be easy, I 'avn't ever done this before," he stuttered. One of his hands left her waist and rubbed his temple trying to concentrate, it was then that she realized his was actually unsure of himself. If she didn't know him as well as she did she would have said that the man was afraid.

"Just tell me, you can tell me anythin', Jack," taking the hand at his forehead she held it in her own two. He took a deep breath, looked away for a moment then turned back to her and took one of her small hands in both of his large ones, switching their positions.

"I-I love ye Lucinda."

There he had said it, and had used her full name, which he had never used often or ever he realized. To say she was stunned he could accept but then the tears came to her eyes, she wiped them away as fast as she could.

She hadn't cried since the death of her parents on the small boat they had loved so well and she usually thought it weak to do so.

"Oh, don't cry luv, I didn't mean for ye to cry," he brushed the tiny water droplets off her cheeks with his thumbs. Then she realized they were not tears of sadness, but of joy, after all she thought that he couldn't love her.

"It's alright, I 'ave something to tell you too, I love you!" The brilliant smile she gave him touched the heart he thought could never be pierced and nearly toppled him over when she threw herself at him and wound her arms him. "I thought you wouldn't share my feelings, I thought-"

"Shhh, darlin', I've luved ye since I first saw ye lookin' over me like some angel," he tipped her face to see his. His eyes had gone dark with desire as hers had done, she saw it and considered the consequences of their actions, but she decided the consequences be damned and her expression mirrored his own. He claimed her lips once more and pulled her backwards on top of him onto the soft, four poster bed.

"Jack, I've never..." she trailed off.

"It's alright, luv, just relax now," carefully he rolled them over so he was above her and kissed her forehead. And she did, and the night echoed with their cries and moans, and so they fell asleep in one another's arms, content and hopelessly in love.

**Earlier that night on the _Interceptor 2_**

The Admiral sat at his desk in his cabin, writing a letter to his cousin, the recently re-appointed Commodore Norrington.

_My Dear cousin,_

_You will be pleased to know that I am less than a day away from bringing to you the most wanted pirate in the Caribbean if not the world. Jack Sparrow is at this very moment on his way to a sea side town in Cuba intent on cashing in on the sugar cane industry and the Governor there. I will be boarding the Black Pearl early tomorrow morning when none of those bloody pirates have woken yet. There I will have the young woman he captured brought back to Port Royal along with her sisters and Mr. Turner._

_But I have received some of the most interesting news from Miss Amanda Collins, one of the kidnapped girls younger siblings. It seems that Miss Lucinda may have joined the pirate Captain, if this is true than I sadly regret to ask you to have two nooses ready, just in case, when we return within the week._

_Your cousin,_

_Admiral George Ragan_

The smirking man put down his quill and shut the cap to his glass inkwell then sealed the letter with his crest in red wax. A messenger came at his call and went off to have the message delivered on a fast sailboat headed for Port Royal, it should reach it's destination in a few days time. The navy man grinned at his work, he would catch the most infamous buccaneer on the sea, outdo his pompous cousin and take all of Jack Sparrow's treasure at the same time. After all, once arrested he would have one of the crew members of the _Black Pearl_ show him the secret place were Jack had been hiding his loot-one pain of a very painful death.

"With any luck I may get a hefty pension with this," he laughed wickedly.

**The _Black Pearl_**

Jack woke up to the sound of a musket being fired followed the tell tale noises of battle just outside if his cabin door. He spared a fast glance at the clock on his wall, it read 5'o clock in the morning, none of his men should be up, at least not for another hour. Shaking Lucinda's arm trying to wake her but having not luck he was interupted by the door being knocked in and a group of six or seven British soldiers rushed in. The girl shot up, held the thin sheet to her body and leaned into Jack, his arms were instantly around her, daring the intruders to make a move at them with a single look.

"Give up the girl and we won't fire," threatened the youngest man in the group.

"Sorry, couldn't quite hear that, groggy in the mornin' ye know." Always with the sarcasm Sparrow was.

"Lower your weapons," the Admiral walked in. He studied the couple in the bed in disgust with a curl of his lip. "It seems we arrived too late, you've already tainted the girl. Bring them onto the deck." The threatening young man reached for Lucy, she recoiled from him and hissed. Jack was reaching for the pistol he kept under the mattress, but another solider had come to that side of the bed as well, they were surrounded.

"You could at least let us get dressed," she commented snidely. Slowly she bent to pick up her discarded shirt and breeches, Jack did the same. He held the blanket around her so that none of the military men could catch a glimpse of her bare body, and some actually were trying. In a few minutes they were clothed well enough then the men yanked them out of bed, pulled them to the deck and had them separated so one was on the opposite side of the ceck than the other. The rest of the crew was already shackled and being guarded by a large group of redcoats, unable to escape.

"You can see I have increased my ranks, just for you." the British officer said

"How'd ye know I was 'ere?" the pirate captain glanced across the deck.

"A little bird told me, she seemed to think you deserved it." So he had been ratted out, that was unexpected, interesting but unexpected.

"Which 'little bird' told ye?" He couldn't wait to know who because when he did he would show him who deserved what.

"A young woman by the name of Katrina Smith, I believe you had quite the time with her," he sneered at Jack.

"Bugger, why that little," he grumbled to himself a nasty string of curses.

"Now enough formalities. You are under arrest Mr. Jack Sparrow-"

"That's Captain Jack Sparrow," he was corrected.

"**Mr**. Jack Sparrow, you are to be taken back to Port Royal, imprisoned, tried and sentenced to death by hanging, as will the rest of your crew." Lucinda held her breath, she didn't know what to say or do, but the man continued. "All your riches on this latest offense will be returned to the town to which they rightfully belong and the remainder of your plunder will be confiscated as well."

"Ye forget one thing, mate, ye don't know where it is," Jack laughed.

"Oh but I have someone who does, bring me the girl," they pulled Lucy up roughly. She bit the man who had her arm, kicked the other man holding her in the groin and elbowed the one behind her in the stomach.

"Don't you take me for granted," she growled as she wiped her hands. "Besides, I wouldn't tell you where the treasure was no matter what you tried."

"Even if I said you were to serve the same sentence as Sparrow?"

"Even if you said you'd have me hung, drawn and quartered I wouldn't tell you where it was."

"So be it, have it arranged for her to hang with her lover," he told his assistant.

"No! She 'asn't done anything!" Jack shouted and struggled with the men holding him back. They slapped a pair of iron shackles on his ankles and wrists, they did the same to Lucy.

"Wait!" Lucy stared at Admiral Ragan.

"Have you reconsidered, my dear?" said the Admiral haughtily.

Jack felt a cold sensation go though him, was she going to betray him? After all they had gone through would she really do that to him to save her own skin? He didn't want to believe that she would, that she could ever be that cold hearted…even for a pirate that was considered ruthless.

"Let Jack go, take me in his place in the noose." Everyone went silent, but she stood with her head held high and glared at her enemy with searing eyes.

"You would take on his crimes and die in his stead?"

"I would," she let out the breath she didn't even know she was holding.

"Lucy what do ye think ye doin'?!" Jack yelled.

"Quiet, Sparrow!" commanded Ragan. "So you would take on the pirates death penalty and be hung in his place. I want to know one thing, why?"

"Because...I love him." The redcoats laughed her, it was too much for them, to be in love with a pirate, and him of all pirates, who were believed to know nothing of tenderness. But she still was unmoving, proud that she admitted out loud as she had wanted to do for the long weeks of keeping it to herself.

"Don't do this ye silly girl!" Jack hissed. Maybe, he thought, if he acted the opposite of what he felt she would take back what she had just said and they would let her go free. "There ain't no reason for ye to do this, ye ain't nothing to me, ye'd be wasting yer life!" She turned to look him straight in the eyes like she had so many times before and she saw the truth behind the false accusation.

"I know what I'm doing, Jack, don't worry about me," she faced the Admiral again. "You take the riches here, do with it whatever you want, take it all for yourself, I don't care. But on one condition, that you let Jack and the crew go, and I will go to the noose in their place. Do we have a deal?"

"I get all that is worth something on this ship, and I get to hang one of the only female pirates left. I like it, we have a deal."

"No! She's not right in the head right now, ye know the salty airs been getting' to 'er or bad water ye know. Savvy?" Jack countered as best he could.

"Oh don't you worry Mr. Sparrow, it's nothing that wouldn't happen anyway," he shrugged as his men started to pull Lucinda to the longboats. Both Jack and Lucinda froze and looked at him questionably. "Oh forgive me, did I not say what the girl's situation was? You see, if she had not already joined with you then she would have been sent back, but if she had, then I would have had her hung along with you. So, the way I see it, she would have met the executioner anyway."

"Why ye!" this time he broke free. His last nerve had snapped, first this baffoon sacks his crew, then tries to separate him from Lucinda. But now he had crossed the line, no one was going to give his woman one scratch without dealing with him first in the harshest possible way. He ran at Ragan, landed a punch square in his face and was reaching for the blade in his enemies scabbard. But one of the new recruits brought the butt of his musket down on the back of his head and the pirate fell to the deck. The last thing he saw was Lucy's worried face as she struggled to reach him but was held back and calling out his name. Then he saw nothing and all was black.


	11. A Course of Action

Disclaimer: I don't own Jack, Will, anything official of POTC or even a car for that matter sighs. Well here we are again, me yacking about how I'm presenting a new chapter, you either actualy paying attention to lil ol' me or just skipping this rubbish and getting to the goods. As usual I do hope you enjoy this and please feel free to drop a line my way 

**Chapter 11 **

She was brought to a small cabin on the _Interceptor 2_, close to the Captain's own cabin so that all around could keep an eye on her should she try to escape or try to pull a trick or escape attempt.

"Where are my sisters?" she asked the man escorting her stoically.

"They were deposited on another island half way to Port Royal, miss. We shall be collecting them on our way there." The young man opened the door and she looked inside, it was sparsely furnished room with only a cot, washing basin and stand, a little table with a single chair, and a chamber pot. This was definitely not what she had been used to for the past two months, not at all, in fact it was almost less than what she had before she had met Jack. (And she and her sisters didn't have much to begin with.) "I've been given orders to have you locked in your room and left alone, miss. Goodbye," the young man left and seconds later she heard the soft 'click' of the lock.

Lucinda took another glance about the room; dark and dreary with but a single candle for a light at night and two small windows looking out to the sea. One of her hands pressed up against the glass, her nails clicking against it, she could see the _Black Pearl_ already in the distance.

"When Jack said she was the fastest in the Caribbean he was right," she smiled to herself. But the smile faded just as quickly as it had come when a certain pirate Captain. came to mind. The events of the past half-hour ran through her head over and over as if she had gotten another hangover and was having thoughts about the party the night before, the only difference that this hurt much worse. Jack's face contorted in anger when Ragan had told them she would have been killed even if she did not strike a bargain with him haunted her vision every time she closed her eyes. He tried to defend her but she would have nothing of it; she would rather die than go on knowing she could have done something that could have saved his life.

"Forgive me, Jack, it was for the best," she whispered. As she lay down on the hard bed and pulled up the wool blanket she fought back tears as she lay there for hours, hating herself for each one that fell.

A knock at the door was what awoke her, she groggily sat up and called out for the person to go away and leave her alone. But the person apparently had a key, walked in and sat on the cot; Lucinda had buried her face in the pillow the whole time they sat with her. A hand gently stroked at her hair and pulled the covers and lifted her head.

"Lucy?" At the sound of a familiar voice she sat up and stared into the eyes of her sisters, her own became misty and she frantically tried to wipe them away.

"How did you t-two get here? They said you would be 'alf way t-to home," she began to choke on the liquid in her throat.

"We were, you've been asleep," Emma told her, the thin girl clasped her hands behind her back.

"And we also heard what you did," Amanda looked at her, her face was expressionless.

"You're disappointed in me, aren't you?"

"How could you have done somethin' like that?" the youngest of the three burst out. "Do you know what you've condemned yourself to?" Emma stood and paced the room angrily, her light green skirt swishing around her slender ankles. "They'll have you hung! And for what? A no good pirate who'll probably forget all about you the next time he sees a pretty face!"

"Don't you dare speak about Jack that way!" hazel eyes flashed as she stood too, facing her youngest sibling and fuming in rage. "You don't know what you're talking about! You don't have any idea why I did what I did!"

"He kidnapped you, took you away from home! So you take his place at the executioners block!?"

"I did it because I love him!" There was an eerie silence and Lucinda slumped back onto her bed, pushing back a lone tear.

"I knew you did," they stared at Amanda with eyes wide as flounders. "Almost from the beginning I saw something between you and him, a connection was clearly there. I'm not surprised you did this, you've always done some rash things when your loved ones were concerned." Several memories from their youth came to mind.

"But he-"

"Shut up Emma! You're only making this worse for her!"

"Fine!" she sat at the tiny table in a huff, her blond hair fluffed up by her angry hands running through it.

"Where's Will?" Lucy's question caught Amanda off guard, but she regained her composure anyway, even though she had no idea why Lucinda would want Will at the moment.

"He asked to stay on the _Black Pearl_, or so I heard earlier. 'Admiral' Ragan was sure glad to finally get rid o' him."

"So he's with Jack."

"Yeah. He told Ragan that he would be better off there, so when Jack regains consciousness he would be there to try and calm him down. After all, they are friends."

"There's no chance he can be called Jack's friend anymore. No one could ever tell where the _Black Pearl_ would be next, then today someone does. And it just so happens that he has a close acquaintance to it's Captain, that's no coincidence."

"You think Will would actually do that?" Emma asked. "We've known him too long to think he would betray a friend like that."

"Go on telling yourself that, maybe one day you'll believe it" Lucinda muttered sarcastically.

"Lucy, I have something to ask you," Amanda said slowly.

"Go ahead," an eyebrow raised in interest at the sound of the questionnaire's tone.

"Did he, Jack I mean, did he ever tell you he loved you? Don't take it the wrong way, but I 'ave an idea and this is a crucial part. I need to know." At first the eldest did not speak, visions of her single night with Jack ran past her eyes, as did his confession.

"Yeah, he did," she looked up. Emma sat in her chair, completely shocked, but Amanda was unfazed.

"Alright then, here's what I want you all to do," the three girls leaned in and listened to the plan, hoping no one would hear their whispers.

**The _Black Pearl_**

Someone shaking his shoulders roughly, which was the first thing he noticed and calling they were his name, that was the awakening Jack received.

"Is that ye luv?"

"No, it's me, William! Get up!" The pirate shot up and looked around, he was in his cabin and in his bed none the less. Will Turner was kneeling on the floor next to him, but something was wrong, missing.

"Where's Lucy?"

"She traded herself for you, remember?" It all came back to him in flashes; they had made love in the very bed he sat in, that night had been perfect, as if nothing could ever go wrong and for once in his life he felt truly calm. Then a small army of soldiers and their pompous Admiral ruined the perfection. She had taken his place to be hung in Port Royal, and he hadn't been able to stop her.

"So, it wasn't a nightmare," his fists clenched.

"No it was not. But a small sailboat came along side us not too long ago with a letter for you, from her." The blacksmith handed his friend a piece of paper held together by a red wax seal in the shape of a crown. He broke the thin wax and turned away from the blacksmith, not wanting anyone else to see what was written there.

_My dearest Jack,_

_Admiral Ragan allowed me to write this as a final goodbye to you. You must be angry with me for what I've gotten myself into, but please, for my sake don't be. I don't know if I could peacefully leave this world if I knew you were even a bit upset with me. This all is probably nothing to you, but I have to tell you in order to be content with what I've done in my life. Even though it has proven to be a short one._

_I meant what I said the night you took me to your bed, I honestly love you, no matter what others, or you may think. You should have seen how boring my life was before you came into it. You gave me my lifelong dream, to sail with pirates and have an adventure of my own. There is not much more time left to write, so I must finish before Ragan changes his mind and forbids me to send this to you. My execution is set for Saturday at sunset, but I only think of what would have happened if I had not taken your place. Believe me when I say I would never have been able to go on or live with myself if you had died and I could have done something. So this is goodbye, my darling Jack. I'll love you forever._

_Lucinda_

Jack silently folded the letter again and slipped it into a secret pocket on the inside of his shirt, near his heart. He faced Will again and saw the sadness in his eyes, but they weren't nearly as haunted as his own.

"I have something to tell you," Jack only nodded to Will. Will cleared his throat, this was not going to be easy for him, even now it felt like a burning sensation in his chest with his shame. "I was the one who asked Admiral Ragan to search and bring Miss Lucy back home. I had no idea she didn't want to be rescued, I'm so sorry, Jack."

"She was home 'ere on the ship, Will. At least for awhile she was. Why did ye try to take 'er back? She was happy!" Jack began to loose his temporary cool.

"How can you ask me that? We didn't know! She's been my friend for almost my entire life, she's always been there with me! Then all the sudden you decide you want her so you steal her away in the middle of the night! Why would you do something like that?" Will retorted in his defense.

"'Cause I wanted her, just as ye said."

"She's not one of your whores back in Tortuga Jack! Lucy's a normal young woman with a family, friends, and a life. And now it'll all be over because she gave it up so you could live! What about that, Jack? Are you satisfied with her now?" The pirate shot to his feet and grabbed the blacksmith by the throat, lifting him off the floor so he dangled in the air in an amazing show of strength.

"Am I satisfied?! She was the greatest satisfaction in my life, 'ell she became my life! How do ye think I feel, huh?" Will wheezed in response, Jack dropped him to the ground where he fell to his knees and clutched at his neck and drew in much needed air. "Lucinda's the best thing that ever 'appened to me, 'not all treasure is silver an' gold.' Remember? I told ye that once, Will. Now both of us knows what it means, savvy?"

"Are you saying you care for her, like Amanda said you did?" the man on the floor choked out.

"Care 'bout 'er? Will…I luv her!" The confession silenced both of them, it had surprised Jack the most, he never thought that he would let anyone but Lucinda and himself know that.

"You love her? It's just what her sister said, I should have listened to her."

"Stop blamin' yeself, Will. It ain't yer fault that she did what she did, that was 'er own choice. I should 'ave known she'd pull somethin' like this, as stubborn as she is." His moods were changing faster then the wind during a tropical storm, one minute he was ready to kill William the next he was consoling him.

"What do you plan to do?"

"Save 'er of coarse. Now tell me, how far ahead of us is the _Interceptor 2_?"

"A few hours, half a day maybe," Will pulled up a chair.

"And they set 'er execution for Saturday, it's already Thursday. Gibbs!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. The plump first mate rushed into the room, but so did an uninvited Anna- Maria. "Set a course for Port Royal, Gibbs."

"Why sir?"

"What do ye think?" shrieked Anna. "To get Lucy back, why else?"

""Course sir! I'll ready the crew right away sir!" he rushed out the door. But Anna -Maria stayed behind, she looked at her Captain as if he were some experiment on a table.

"Why are ye lookin' at me that way, Maria?"

"I want to know why ye would risk goin' after someone when ye ain't never done anythin' like this before."

"Uh, put it this way. Lucy's never gonna leave me sight again once we get 'er back. Savvy? How's that for an answer?"

"Good enough, I'll be on deck now," she left the room, a smirk on her face.

"So, do you have a plan on how to get her back?" said William. Jack rubbed his beard for a moment then turned to his friend.

"Not really but I'll 'ave one by the time we reach Port Royal." Jack replied.

"That's encouraging." answered Will.


	12. The Mark of a Pirate

**Disclaimer: **Nothing is mine except my own characters, so don't sue me, all you would end up with is the loose change in my purse. In this installment of Black Sails in the Sunset we have a moment in the life of the Collins sisters, sorry no Jack at this point ; Although I do give a warning, there is some icky stuff in this chapter, so if you don't have a strong stomach you might want skip the middle. Enough hints here, go on and have fun and don't forget to review

**Chapter 12**

"So that's your wonderful plan? How the hell are you going to pull it off?" said Lucinda, her arms crossed over her chest. To say the least she was not impressed with her sister's strategy on how she planned to help her escape certain death.

"Yes and its going to work!" Amanda said testily, showing what a true red head she was.

"Run that by me again?" Emma was confused, but then again she was confused most of the time anyway.

"Alright," the middle child clenched her teeth. "Remember those two men we met at the town Ragan stashed us at, right?" The youngest girl nodded, her face went dreamy when she thought of one of the men back at the port, the other two rolled their eyes at her. She had never been flirty before, but now since she'd figured out how it was starting to annoy the other two. Besides that she had the attention span of a fish, at least they had a feeling Will could stop worrying about Elizabeth voodoo dolls for a while. "They'll be at our house Friday night waiting for us. When we meet them we make a run for the prison so we can free Lucy. Then we escape on the their ship and sail off to find Jack."

"Now who are these two fellas anyway?" Lucinda asked.

"They're Jack's younger brothers," Amanda answered. "Zackariah and Alexander Sparrow."

"He never told me he had any brothers." Lucinda pondered for a moment, when, not if, but when she found Jack she was going to grill him about this, some reinforcements would had been nice earlier.

"They don't talk much 'bout each other, too much stuff going on for that. That's what they said at least," Amanda stroked her chin. "Come to think of it I think they said there was one more, I think they said his name was Daniel, oh well, apparently he's been missing for years now." Emma took a sip from the canteen on her hip as she finished.

"Enough of this talk, we can't chance anybody hearing us. So…tell us Lucy, what was it like being on Jack's boat?"

"Ship, a boat is smaller," Lucy automatically corrected. "Well, I don't know where to start."

"What was Tortuga like?" Emma asked energetically.

"Um…very crowded. I had the pleasure of meeting some of Jack's 'acquaintances' while I was there."

"Oh, tell us all the gory details!" they gushed, eager as always for gossip.

"There were three of them, all overdressed, had too much makeup on and they were all….'Ladies of the night.' And I tend to wonder why his cheek hasn't callused over from being slapped so much." She had to stop herself when she realized she was rambling and grinned sheepishly.

"Pirate abuse! Wait a sec, where did you sleep? In a hammock or in a cabin?" asked Amanda, who grimaced at the thought of sharing a space with a crew of pirates. Lucinda was silent, her sisters were too curious for their own good; this was going to be interesting gossip, and what girl didn't love gossip? .

"In a cabin."

"Which cabin?" they took turns asking her.

"Just a cabin, nothing special," her fingers twisted the end of her shirt.

"Alone?" asked Emma.

"Of course, I'm no loose woman."

"Really, then where did that spot on your neck come from?" Amanda questioned, an unholy gleam in her blue/green eyes. The brown haired girl's hand went to her throat, frantically feeling for anything unusual; Amanda handed her a small mirror from her pocket a moment later. Lucinda held it up as best she could and gazed at herself, a dark pink-near red, oval shaped mark like teeth was imprinted on the side of her neck.

"If I didn't know any better I'd say that was a love bite," Emma grinned evilly, her brown eyes narrowed.

"Damn! Just wait until I get my hands on him I'm gonna-" her lips sealed shut. Her sisters were looking at her expectantly, wanting to know where the mark had come from and more importantly who left it there, their faces disguised as perfect angels.

"Go on sister dear, who will you get your hands on?" Amanda had that look on her face again, the one when she had match making on the mind. There was no way she could not keep the answer from them for long, but she could try.

"No one."

"Lucinda Rose Collins!" they spoke in stereo. Did she honestly think they didn't know who did that?

"Don't do that I hate it when you use my full name!"

"So tell us and we won't use it!"

"It was Jack! Who else would it be?! I slept with him in his bed and he gave it to me the night before Ragan came on board!"

"Now that wasn't too hard, and I knew you two would sleep together eventually anyway." Amanda said smugly.

"Then why did you make me say it, Amanda?"

"Because you had to or it would spoil my fun."

"I'm gonna be hung in two days and you want to know about my failed love life?"

"Couldn't hurt," Emma was acting the dumb blond again. There was a knock on the door and Admiral Ragan walked in before anyone had said he could do so.

"I would like to speak to the eldest Miss Collins, alone." He all but glared down at the other two and commanded them to leave with his eyes. Amanda would have put up quite the fight-verbally, but Lucy held up her hand and told her not to worry, that she would be fine. Once they were gone Ragan sat down on the wooden chair at the small table and stared at Lucinda.

"What is it you want, Admiral?"

"I'm here to negotiate with you," he crossed his legs, his back ramrod stiff.

"What is there to negotiate? You tried to have my lover executed, almost stole his ship from him, disrespected my sisters and now you lock me in this god forsaken cabin. I despise you so we have nothing to talk about."

"You speak like a young noble woman, so intelligently."

"It helps that I'm friends with the Governors daughter," she flipped her hair pompously, which in turn made his eye twitch at which she smirked.

"I can clear your sentence, my dear. All you have to do is tell me where the _Black Pearl_ makes berth and where Sparrow's treasure is."

"I told you once that I wouldn't ever tell you anything. I'm not your 'dear' either. And that's Captain Sparrow to the likes of you."

"To the 'likes of me' he is a loathsome scoundrel who should be hung so all the world can see. I suggest you reconsider what it is you are doing, miss." The older man growled, his anger showed the deep lines in his drawn face.

"I know exactly what I'm doin'. Nothing you can threaten me with can change my mind, I'll go to the noose and you'll be left with no one to tell you how to catch Jack."

"Really now? Come in men!" Four uniformed men came into the room, one was holding a red hot metal rod in his leather-clad gloved hands. The sight reminded her of Will hard at work, but she highly doubted that this man was going to repair 's'-hooks or make swords. "An accused pirate usually has to be tried and found guilty before being labeled as one, but I think your case can be an exception."

"Here, sir," one of the men handed him a rolled piece if paper.

"Thank you, private," he opened the parchment and began to read it aloud. " 'This day, Saturday the 16th of August 1721 Lucinda Rose Collins is hearby condemned to death by hanging on the following charges: Association with the wanted pirate Jack Sparrow, injuring three men of the British Royal Navy, aided in the raiding of a town in Cuba, betraying her country by selling confidential military information in Tortuga and piracy.' It's only a rough draft though I do like it if I do say so myself. What do you think my dear?"

"I didn't sell information in Tortuga, that's nonsense!" she snatched the paper and read it for herself.

"Oh I know you did not but such a crime is treason, and I have many connections to say you did."

"Like who?"

"Before I left I found a young bar maid who was apparently fired due to a fight with you. She offered to assist me as soon as we returned, but at a price. What a coincidence, I used that same plan to find your lover, you two really should have watched who you angered. It seems to have come back to bite you in the worst way possible," he gave the paper back to his lackey and nodded his white wiged head in appreciation.

"So you plan to brand me? It won't matter, my lips are still sealed," she lifted her chin defiantly. Ragan growled and grabbed a pair of leather gloves form another sailor and took hold of the rod.

"Hold her down!" Each man took a hold of one of her limbs, one rolled up her sleeve and turned her arm over so the pale underside was facing upwards. She looked into the Admiral's eyes as he approached her. There was no way she was going to give him the pleasure of seeing her turn away or act frightened, although on the inside she was screaming like a frightened child. The sight of the red hot metal stopped her heart, a fine sheen of sweat appeared on her brow, not just from the heat.

The 'P' shaped brand came down onto her soft flesh, it fizzled as layers of skin burned off. Her fists clenched, her bare toes curled and she bit so hard into her lip to keep from screaming that a thin stream of blood trickled down her chin.

"Sir, you shouldn't hold the brand so long." One of the men warned nervously, his superior officer was pressing it too hard and too long. The rod came off her arm, some tiny pieces of flesh sticking to the tip, and Lucy grunted and rushed over to the washing basin. She submerged her forearm into the luke- warm water and glared at her assailant, hateful tears blurred her vision.

"You'll be sorry for that," she sounded like an angered amazon. The wound was blistering and welting red, an ugly burn on the white skin she was so proud of.

"We shall see," the bastard wiped his hands as though just finishing back- breaking work. "Now you have no way of escaping your sentence, not even your precious 'Captain' Sparrow can save you," he spat Jack's name like a curse. They exited the room in a pompous huff, she could hear Emma asking them frantically what they had done to her sister. Amanda came in first and gasped when she saw Lucinda standing over a bowl, her skin sizzling and bits of steam floated up to the ceiling.

"My god! What did they do to you? Why didn't you scream out? We could have helped you!" She looked at the new mark, a large 'P' dug deep into the skin and some little bits had begun to char.

"What did they do?" Emma came to the open side and gasped. "How could he do that! You haven't even had a trial yet!"

"I doubt he will give me one now," she grunted and pushed her arm back into the water.


	13. Mixed Emotions

Disclaimer: I own, nadda, none, nothing etc…etc….etc. Hello all and welcome back to my dearest delusion. I hope u all have gotten your X-Mass shopping done-unlike me- and that you are searching diligently-like me- to find your own presents. Now, here I bring up a proposition for all of you out there in Reader Land. If I receive at least 3 reviews on this chappie I will have a double update for next week as my Christmas gift to all of you P-G1017 out. 

Chapter 13 

**The _Black Pearl_**

"Of all the days for the damn wind to be down!" Anna -Maria cursed at the slow pace of the ship; it may be the fastest in the Caribbean but right now all the odds weren't exactly with them and neither were the trade winds it seemed. For the past day and a half they had been making good time, but all the sudden the wind slowed down to the point that walking would be faster. "Where the 'ell is Jack?"

"I haven't seen him," Will answered as he tied down a cannon.

"Great," she went to his cabin, leaving Cotton to the helm. When she entered the cabin she found Jack throwing darts at a board on the other side of the door. A feathered projectile hit the wall inches from her head, she looked at the dartboard and saw a poorly drawn version of Ragan glued to it with candle wax. "What are you doin'?"

"What does it look like woman? I'm practicin', for when I finally get me hands on that sorry excuse for a sailor," another dart hit the picture between the eyes.

"Nice shot," she pulled the little spear from the wall.

"Thanks," he took a long swig of rum.

"Your gonna kill 'im with a dart game?"

"No I ain't gonna kill 'im with a dart game! I'm gonna use this." He was not in the mood for funny and pulled out his pistol from his belt and swung it around his finger a few times before he replaced it.

"That's the one ye killed Barbosa with," she observed.

"Yep, and now I'm gonna use it to kill what's his face."

"I think his name's Ragan," she walked around the room.

"Yeah, yeah the point is I'm gonna either shoot 'im through the 'ead or run 'im through."

"Sounds like a plan to me. You know the crew is not too happy about having another woman on board, 'cept a few that is."

"Well then they'll just 'ave to deal with it!" he slammed his bottle on the table nearly cracking it.

"So what do ye want me to tell the men?"

"Tell them that if they can't get over the fact that I have my woman on the ship then they're gonna be dropped off at the next port minus their crown jewels! Savvy?" She took a step back, he hardly ever spoke to her in such a voice, so filled with anger, vengeance and even sorrow, and frankly it scared her, Jack Sparrow was never like this.

"'Course Cap'n, right away," she rushed out, hitting Pintel in the shoulder in the process.

When the door was securely shut and latched he pulled from his coat the letter and reread it, one line standing out, _"I'll love you forever."_ She wrote her words as if she thought he wouldn't come for her, like she was just accepting death…like she didn't believe everything was going to turn out right like it should. That was not like her at all, she could never just go along with something like this, she was so stubborn, that just was not like her, it seemed like they were both acting out of the ordinary. He wondered what she was doing at that moment, if she was lonely, if she had her family with her, if she was fighting off the soldiers who tried to command her if they tried to take advantage of her.

"Now that would be like 'er," he grinned. The pirate thought about his plan; they would arrive in Port Royal on Saturday in the late afternoon. But with a wind the way it was they might not get there until sunset itself, he would have to hurry to the square before it was too late. But he would get there in time, he had to…her life depended on it.

**The_ Interceptor 2_**

"Does it look real bad?" Emma examined Lucinda's wound.

"It could have been worse, but we need to keep it clean and covered, we don't want you getting gangrene." Lucy's face scrunched up at the mention of the disgusting condition. She had seen people back home with it, and the amputations that came along with it. Once her old employer had gotten the illness after not attending a nasty slash and his right foot was cut completely off, he had a wooden peg since then. It was not something she wanted to face.

"I'm gonna get that god damned scum sucking bastard for this," she grumbled as Amanda applied some foul smelling salve she had gotten from the ship's doctor. "Ow! Watch it!"

"Do you want this thing to get rancid and have to be cut off?"

"No."

"Then shut up." Amanda then wrapped Lucinda's forearm with a piece of cloth from her skirt. The older sister huffed and looked away out the window. "Do you think he'll come after you?" Amanda asked.

"I don't know, I really don't." said Lucy

"But you said he told you he loved you," Emma said.

"He did, but I don't think it's in his nature to stay with one woman for very long. But if he does come for me, then I'll know that I haven't wasted my feelings on him. But…" Lucy trailed off.

"But what?" the other two asked.

"I don't want him to come for me."

"What?!" their eyes almost popped from their sockets.

"If he does then Ragan will have won, he'll have us both strung up. I won't have Jack killed when I can save him, it's better for one of us to die and the other to live." They were speechless, she was acting completely on her emotions, not something she often did, as she was the rational one of the three.

"You would really go through with this even if we didn't have a way to get you out?" Amanda asked.

"Yes, isn't that what I just told you?" she turned to them.

"Alright then," Emma sat down. "I don't want you to die Lucy," her voice became choked on tears. Amanda sat next to her and wrapped her arm around her shoulders to comfort her little sister.

"She isn't going to die silly! We have a plan and it's going to work! Right Lucy?"

"Right," but she was not as sure as she wanted to be. "Can I be alone for a few minutes? I need to think." They nodded and left. She sat on her cot and stared at her arm, she smirked lightly. "So I'm a real pirate now huh? Just like I always wanted," she mused. Her mind was a jumble again, she had been as stable as she could possibly be considering the situation, until her sister had mentioned Jack. She really did not want him to come and try to rescue her, it would mean his death.

It would only make things worse and complicate something she could not stand at the moment.

"Please Jack, don't do anything stupid." For the remainder of the day she thought about her life in the past and what might have been due to different decisions she could have made. But when she caught herself in those thoughts, she stopped herself and told herself she would not be gloomy, that it was weakness. That and she hated second guessing herself, on one hand she wanted nothing more then to be back with Jack where she had felt like she truly belonged. But on the other hand she wanted him to stay right where he was, away from that bastard Ragan and safe…away from her…it broke her heart to think of that. "I'm stronger than this," she scolded herself. "I need to accept that Amanda and Emma are going to help me out of this mess and I'm gonna go on with my life." But there was something was telling her deep down that something was going to go terribly wrong.

Port Royal 

It was early Saturday morning, the sun had not even risen yet and Amanda and Emma were sitting in their home impatiently and wide-awake. A series of abbreviated knock came from the front door and they ran to it, nearly tumbling over each other to get to it first.

"Who's there?" Amanda asked.

"It's Alex and Zack, let us in!" came the whispered reply. They opened the door and two young men walked into the house and sat on the sofa. Both were tall and tanned with long black hair dressed in old, mostly unmatched clothing associated with pirates. Zack seemed the younger with a clean- face and had dark brown eyes, Alex on the other hand looked years older with bright green eyes and a neat goatee. The two were Jack's little brothers, some of them at least, and one could definitely tell they were related. (Good looks apparently ran in the family)

"What took you two so long? The guard's already changed shifts!" Amanda was not happy.

"How are we supposed to get Lucy out now?" Emma was upset as well. The men smirked at the girls, their kohl lined eyed bright.

"Don't worry ladies," Alexander said in a cool voice.

"Yer sister will be just fine," Zackariah finished in a deep voice. "We'll have yer sibling back with ye in no time."

"And how are you gonna pull that off? We planned to spring her while the guards were changing shifts. Thanks to you we missed out moment and she is still in jail!" These two obviously did not know the extent of Amanda's wrath as they thought is was convinent to lay back on the couch.

"Here is our plan ladies," they leaned toward the women. "We found that those guards also change positions ten minutes before your sister is gonna be brought to the square."

"That's when we make our move," Alex said. "Ye two said ye know how to get the jail bars open, am I right?"

"Yes," Amanda spoke up. She wanted to impress the handsome Alexander, the fact that is was a life or death situation was no excuse to make a new 'acquaintance'. "Our friend William helped make those cells, he told us how he did it. We can get them open, no problem."

"We just need to have one of you two stand watch and the other has to have your ship ready." Emma looked at Zackariah, who was looking back her. The petite blonde turned her head away to hide her blushing face.

"Sounds good to me. But what took you guys so long to get here?" Amanda was still curious. They grinned mischievously like a pair of young devils.

"We found that we hadn't tried the local waterin' holes 'ere yet," Alex swung a leg over his brother.

"So we just 'ad to sample them," Zack copied his older sibling. The girls sighed heavily and slouched down in their chairs and covered their heads with their hands. Oh yes, one could definitely tell that these were Jack Sparrow's little brothers. And that was what worried them, they should have known that they would be just as addicted to rum as Jack would. One question rang over and over in their minds. What the hell were they thinking having these two helping them?


	14. Escape and Heartache

**Disclaimer:** cries I love you guys! I'm always so happy to hear that people are actually reading my fic, personally I've always thought it was too mushy or Jack was ooc….goes off into her own little world But enough of me being dumb, here is the first part of the special 2-Part Christmas present I promised. Enjoy and have a great New Year

**Chapter 14**

Lucy sat in the corner of her cell on the pile of straw that served as a poor excuse for a bed. The window was barred with iron rods, there was no light except the pale beam of moonlight streaming through to the floor. Her clothes were beginning to smell, her hair was dirty and falling out of its braid, she was hungry and her eyes had bags forming under them. All in all she had never felt as awful as she did right now, a tear fell down her dirty cheek. She missed Jack, for the past four nights she had slept alone, two of them on an impossibly hard cot, the other two on the molding straw.

"Stop it," she told herself. Another tear fell, "I'm stronger than this!" Angrily she wiped the tears away and sniffed. Her nights had been lonely, there were no warm blankets, no calming candlelight or gentle rocking of the wave, and most of all there was no Jack to hold her and make her feel safe. The whole time she had been on the _Black Pearl_ she had known he would reach over to bring her close to him and hold like one would a treasure. In his sleep he would wrap an arm over her waist or shoulders, his warmth seeping through to her. But she hadn't been sleeping, it wasn't like her to drift off quickly, so she could always feel his embrace. She had grown accustomed to the feel of him embracing her and she now could barely sleep because he wasn't there.

For the hundreth time she kicked at the straw and watched it fly into the moonbeams and sink once more down to the floor. Her head hit the cold ground and she used her long, thick hair as a pillow as best she could. Slowly she took off the ripped piece of skirt from her branded arm and looked down at it. Infection hadn't set in, she sighed in relief, and now shiny pink scarring was beginning to appear.

"I must look like a street urchin," she mused. Absently she re-wrapped the burn and drew pictures on the stone floor with the water from a nearby puddle. It came out to look a lot like the _Black Pearl_, she smiled a little before wiping it away with one stroke of her hand. The night passed sluggishly, she hadn't gotten much sleep, when a voice dragged her out of her half conscious state.

"Lucy! Lucy get up! We've only got a few minutes before they come to get you!" She sat up and saw her sisters and a man she had never seen in her life on the other side of her cell bars.

"Who's he?" she asked groggily.

"This is Jack's brother, Alexander. Now get up!" Amanda was not in a patient mood. She wanted to get Lucinda out and get to Alex and Zack's ship, the _Black_ _Diamond _(sister ship to the _Black Pearl_) and get out of Jamaica. "Push up on your side of the bars and we'll do the same on our side. Alright?"

"Savvy," she mumbled, still not quite awake.

"Ha ha," Alex laughed, "she musta been 'round Jack so long she's picked up some of 'is habits!"

"Yes, yes that's wonderful now help us pick up this bench!"

"Touchy, touchy little 'Manda I'm getting' there!" Emma rolled her eyes as they lifted the heavy wooden bench and set it against the iron bars.

"On the count of three," Amanda said. "One, two, three!" They shoved at the cell door and within seconds the latches came out of the hinges and the gate fell away. "Someone was bound to hear that, come on!" said Amanda. They all ran out of the prison and hurried to the docks on the opposite side of the lookout point.

**The _Black Pearl_**

Jack could see the lookout clearly from his spyglass, he closed it and swung from the crows nest by a pulley and landed on the deck in front of the helm. The sun had begun it's descent to the horizon telling him time was running short. That was when he saw the fleet of Royal Navy ships guarding the entrance to the harbor. Again he took out his spyglass again and looked for the command ship, as he thought, Norrington was there in the lead, it seemed that old Norry had been given back he position, out of pity no doubt.

"Damn that bloody Commodore," he cursed. "Ready the guns!" The crew scrambled around getting prepared for battle against the Navy, and time itself. The one hundred cannons of the _Pearl _ were all being loaded, Jack stood resolute, guiding his ship and men into the impending onslaught. He looked to the West, the sun was going fast, and he growled and yelled for Mr. Gibbs.

"Aye Cap'n?"

"Gibbs, I needs to get into Port Royal as soon as possible. If I don't, Lucy will be seeing the 'fast drop an' sudden stop' first hand. Savvy?" His first mate's eyes widened for a second, only Anna knew why they were really here. Joshamee Gibbs really thought women were bad luck to have on a ship, but he had grown fond of the girl Jack had snuck on. He couldn't think of an innocent thing like her, though feisty thing she could be, could be killed in cold blood like that; he had even tried to block out that thought ever since he and the rest of the crew heard her brave agreement to die in Jack's place. He didn't think Admiral Ragan would go through with it.

"I understand, sir," he set off to hurry the crew along.

"Ye better understand," he thought of Lucinda. The sleepless nights since they had taken her haunted him, it was impossible to rest without her body next to his. She was **his** as far as he was concerned, even if he knew she would hate to be considered as such. But he also knew that as soon as he had her safe and back on the ship she wouldn't leave it unless he was with her, this wasn't going to happen again. The Naval war ships were coming up fast to them, he saw Norrington shouting orders to his sailors.

As soon as they were in gun range Jack gave the order to open fire. The cannons exploded with bursts of red and orange flame and one of the enemy ships was hit near its powder magazine. The battle continued with volleys of cannon fire and soon Jack and some of his crew were able to board the command ship. He sought out Norrington, if he took him then the Commodore's men would be without a leader, not to mention that they were too stupid (in Jack's opinion) to go one without someone to give them orders. He found his man by the helm in a heated sword fight with Anna -Maria. It looked like Anna had gotten the advantage, but when she turned to see Jack and let her guard down. Norrington took the open moment and slashed her sword arm open, she screeched and clutched at it and walked backwards.

He was about to strike her down and throw her overboard when Jack made his move.

"Oy Norrington!" he looked over and saw the pirate Captain.

"Jack Sparrow, I was wondering when you would show up." James left his previous opponent.

"That's Captain Jack Sparrow if ye please. Now would ye mind lettin' me lady friend go? It ain't nice to hit a lady."

"I wouldn't call this wench a lady, but I'll let her go. I'd rather fight you!" he charged. They fought all around the deck, each having a turn at having an advantage, but neither was the winner yet. "How dare you show your face here again, Sparrow! I thought you would have been smart and stayed away!"

"Somethin' of mine was taken from me 'ere and I'm gonna her back!" he lunged at his stuffy opponent.

"That girl has an addled brain if she chose death on her own. It's her own fault that she decided to join the likes of you!" Jack looked to the sun, he didn't have much time left, the fight had to end, and soon.

"She's not addled!"

"I know what she did, selling information to pirates, attacking her rescuers, her own countrymen, warming your bed! She's no better than the women working the street!" The hard hearted Navy man pushed the pirate back in the railing.

"Don't you dare talk 'bout her like that!" He ran Norrington back across the deck so his back was on the rigging, he climbed up it with Jack at his heels. Then Jack heard William yelling to him, he turned to him, the younger mans face was full of pain.

"Jack! The sun!" His head snapped to the water's edge, sending his wild black hair across his face, there was a layer of bright pinks, reds, oranges and at the top a deep blue, but the sun had disappeared below the horizon. _"My execution is set for Saturday at sunset,"_ the words in her letter repeated in his mind in a horrifying echo.

He had failed her, then an image flashed before his eyes and in. A trap door falling down, a thick rope tightening around a white throat, her bound hands pulling at it as her bare feet dangled above the ground. The air to her lungs was cut off and then after many painful minutes she went still, deathly still.

"No," he whispered. Then he let out a long, anguished filled cry as tears coursed down his cheeks to be lost in his mustache and beard, it was the sound of utter heartbreak and the first time he had ever heard it. Both crews stopped fighting and looked at him as he descended from the rigging, seemingly forfitting his fight and slowly walked past them all to the plank that lead to his ship. His crew followed him and left the enemy confused and unsure who had won the battle. Jack opened the door to his cabin and called lightly to his first mate.

"Yes, Cap'n?"

"Set a course away from here," he said through a tear-choked throat.

"Where to, sir?"

"Anywhere! Anywhere but here!" he slammed the door in his elder's face. Anna –Maria and Will came over to Mr. Gibbs, she holding her wounded arm which had just been bandaged and the blacksmith still clutching his sword. After a slow nod they left together to set the course to leave Port Royal. Anna knew the ship would probably never see that place again, not that they would have it in them to do so anyway.


	15. I'll Love You Forever

Disclaimer: And we're back with Part 2 of the Holiday Special of Black Sails in the Sunset! And now a word from our sponsor! P-G1017: Hello every body, enjoying the season I hope And here like the invisible announcer guy said here indeed is the final part of your gift this winter, go on and have fun. 

**P.S.** Be on the look out in a week or so for a one shot I did on a childhood staple of mine Captain James Hook. I've always been fascinated by him and I thought I'd give it a go on trying to go through his mind. Tell me what you think of it! wink

Chapter 15 

Jack stalked into his cabin and collapsed onto his bed, unable do more even if he tried, the pain in his chest- no his heart was far too great. Tears flowed freely down his face in tiny rivers, but he didn't try to wipe them away, they were rightly there no matter how they stung his eyes. For a moment he was silent as he stared into nothing then he began to sob, he couldn't remember when he had ever broke down and cried. The kohl lining his eyes dripped down his cheeks, and that he tried to push it away, but it only smeared over his skin.

"Damn stuff," he rubbed the liquid off on his shirtsleeve leaving a black splotch. Lucy's letter fell from his pocket and dropped to the floor, he picked it up but didn't read it, long since he had memorized it. "I'll luv ye forever," he quoted. "I'm so sorry darlin', I failed ye," he sat the paper on the desk. He took off his hat and coat and threw them across the room where they landed on the floor, missing the hook on the wall by several feet. Lying back on the bed he sighed and remembered everything he had gone through with her. First he recalled when he first saw her leaning over him thinking her an angel, then bringing her aboard his ship, spending the day after with her at his side. It seemed like life could go on like that forever, her smile had lit up his world like the bright, Caribbean sun never had. But what he thought about most was when she told him she loved him. No one had ever told him that, save for his mother, and for so long the only thing he thought he could love was his ship and the sea.

But then a less than pleasant thought came to him, the reason why all this happened, Katrina. A low growl rumbled from deep within his throat as his tears stopped flowing. This was all her doing, the spiteful snake, as revenge on him for impregnating her. She always had a sick sense of justice, but in the state he was in at the time he really could have cared less what she thought. His negligence had come back to him, and the woman he loved had paid the price with her life. Katrina would not get off that easily.

"Will! Gibbs! Anna! One of ye get in here now!" All three of them ran into the room, first they were taken aback by Jack's appearance of a tear stained face and the running eyeliner. "What are ye lookin' at?"

"Nothing!" they all said.

"I changed me mind on where we be goin'. One of ye plot out a course to Tortuga."

"Why there?" William asked him.

"I've got me some business there to take care of," he picked up his pistol and examined it, a strange glow in his usually dark eyes. "I was gonna use this on Ragan, but 'fore I do I thought of someone else who I need to take care of first."

"Who Cap'n?" Anna was starting to worry, the dangerous look in his eyes that was beginning to scare her.

"No one ye know Anna, but she needs to be taught a lesson. Now go plot that course!"

"Yes sir!" The look on his captain's face was worrying Mr. Gibbs, too. They rushed out the door and left Jack standing alone in the dimly lit room.

"Don't worry, luv. I'll avenge ye then I'll join ye soon." He ran his fingertips over the letter where her name was signed, a tear fell onto it and he lay back in bed, clutching the letter in his hand.

**The _Black Diamond_**

Lucy sat on the railing of the ship, looking out to sea as if she expected something to magically materialize on the horizon. Amanda had come in earlier and sat somberly next to her, also staring out in the distance.

"Where's Emma?" Lucinda asked, her voice monotone.

"She's off with Zackariah getting a tour of the ship."

"Oh," she spun a lock of hair around her finger. "Do you know where we're going?"

"Alexander said we'll be going from port to port for awhile until we find someone who has seen Jack. Then we head where ever some clue can lead us," she didn't sound very confident.

"He could be anywhere in the Caribbean, sis. And he's just gotten the _Black Pearl_ filled with supplies, he won't be in one place for very long. It's a needle in a haystack, 'Manda." Something wasn't right about Lucinda, she wasn't her excited, stubborn, adventurous self anymore and that didn't bode well in the mind of her sister.

"What's wrong?" Amanda prompted.

"It's nothing."

"Yes it is, now tell me." The elder girl was silent for a moment before heaving a sigh of defeat.

"Alright. It's that you and Em' told me that Jack would come for me, and I know I said I didn't want him to. That would've put him in danger by comin' into a town with a man like Ragan after him. But deep down I kinda was hoping he would come, not be caught, and prove that he really does love me. So…" she trailed off uncertainly.

"You don't think he loves you anymore, is that it?" Lucy only looked away. "Sis, look at me," she held her sisters round face between her hands. "I'm sure he tried to come for you. Why wouldn't he? If he told you he loves you, then he loves you! He was probably stopped or delayed, he is a sought after pirate, I'm sure he tried to rescue you."

"You really think so?"

"I'm positive, now come on, lets go get some dinner." They walked down to the mess hall, arm in arm, slight smiles on their lips. Lucinda took one last glance out to the impossibly blue sea, then went below decks. When they went in, Emma was uncomfortably close to Zackariah flirting her little black heart out and batting her long, blond lashes. Amanda rolled her eyes and came up behind her younger sister and yanked on the girl's dirty blond ponytail.

"Owww! Why'd you do that?!" she rubbed her sore head.

"Cause you were torturing that poor guy."

"I wasn't torturing him. Was I?" said Emma innocently. Lucinda sat at the end of the table, a knowing smile that didn't quite reach her eyes on her face, and then she reached for the basket of bread in front of her. Alexander sat next to her and took a gulp from a large mug of rum.

"'Ello little missy. Why so glum?"

"It's nothing," she bit into a roll. He looked at her with his unusual bright green eyes, so like the intent stare of his older brother.

"Yeah it is, now tell good ol' Alex." She finished off the bread and stole a mouthful of his drink before talking.

"It's about Jack," she answered. "How on Earth are we gonna find him, he could be anywhere. And he could be up to anything, it just seems hopeless."

"Nottins' hopeless, it's just 'ard, that's all. We'll find Jack, don't ye worry."

"You really think so? But where do you think Jack is anyway?"

"Well, that be 'ard to guess, but, there's another port not far from here. I wanna check there an' see if anybody there's seen my dear brother."

"Sounds good to me," her spirits were gently lifted. This man had the same attitude as Jack, which made her confidant in turn, they would find him and everything would be the way it should. She heard a girlish giggle, Emma was at it again with Zack, but he seemed to be equally enamored with her as she was with him. The poor man didn't know what he was getting into…then again if he was interested in her maybe he did.

Amanda had apparently noticed it as well; she was shaking her head at the sight. But her attention was stolen away when Alex winked suggestively at her, she, unlike Emma, winked right back and nudged her head towards the door, as she was never shy about flirting with men.

"Something tells me this is gonna be one long trip," Lucinda mumbled to herself as she stole another gulp of Alex's rum.

"Hey! Do ye do that with me brother, little lady? It ain't right to take a man's rum!"

"No I didn't drink his precious rum," she grinned at the thought of what she did do to it.

"Why ye lookin' like that? What ye do to Jack?"

"Oh nothing to him, but I did throw half his rum out a window." Alexander paled at the idea of losing all that alcohol and brought his arm around his mug, shielding it from her as if she would toss it at any moment.


	16. From one Island to Another

**Disclaimer:** Hey everyone! Sorry for the unusual wait but things have been a little chaotic lately between running me and my brother across town and getting things together for school next semester I just haven't had the time to post ANYTHING. sighs Well then for your viewing enjoyment here is the long awaited (or so I hope…) chapter 16. R & R my friends!

**Chapter 16**

**The _Black Pearl_**

Tortuga was a small, brightly lit dot on the night horizon as Jack stood at the helm of his beloved ship, but the sight was not the welcoming one it had been for him for years past. Instead it was his final stop before the end of him, how fitting. The crew had him stop at two other towns to plunder on the way there, for no apparent reason- just to plunder, but he couldn't even enjoy ransacking anymore and had refused any more detours until he had finished his business at the pirate port. Anna -Maria, William and Gibbs had tried in vain to talk him out of what he had planned, but nothing could sway him in his decision. What he had concocted was to find that whore Katrina, kill her for what she had done to him and his young love, then take a one way trip to the island his mutinous old first mate had exiled him to twice already.

Never in his entire life did Jack Sparrow think he would ever be the one to his life…and most defiantly not for the reason he intended. After going through cursed pirates, giant squids, going to hell and back and still coming out alive he had come to the conclusion that he would be going out in brilliant flaming glory; exactly what would be flaming he wasn't sure but he thought he would. But now…now he found that for all the adventures he had, all the treasure he owned…it all seemed empty without some one to share it with. He knew who he had wanted to share his life with, the one woman who he wanted above all the silver and gold in the world, and that dream had been viscously ripped away from him. To think, the infamous, roguish captain, turned upside down by a tavern girl.

None of the others crew-members knew about what their captain had in store, nor would he tell them. He would take a long boat with either Will or Anna to the little isle, have them row it back and leave him there, although he didn't know yet if he wanted his pistol this time. And if they wouldn't take him there he would just steal a boat and sink it once he was on the island. He knew his three friends thought it was foolish to do it, but he no longer cared, they had something to live for, he didn't anymore. Will had a beautiful fiancée waiting for him back in Port Royal, Gibbs was an excellent sailor and any man with half a brain would love to hire him. And Anna -- Jack had decided that he would leave the _Black Pearl_ to her; she had proven herself to be just the kind of person who could handle his legendary ship. Besides, it was about time a new female pirate came into the picture, and Anna was a perfect choice. They had their whole lives ahead of them, he had made his whole life around the only girl he had ever loved, but she was gone. He was left dead inside and wanted to end it all so he could be with her again. It was ironic really, he never expected to be in love, neither did Lucinda, she had told him herself the night they had made love, and yet both of them seemed to have fallen quite quickly. All of it seemed like the silly romance novels Elizabeth read all the time; ridiculous stories about an everyday woman with a pirate lover.

(A/N: I read those by the way heehee)

Up until he met Lucinda he thought they were nonsense, what pirate wouldn't? After all, why would a normal girl fall in love with a no good, thieving, and scalawag pirate? Elizabeth had said it was, "all terribly romantic and adventurous," he told her she had her head in the clouds. Oh how wrong he was, he had figured that out when he first laid eyes on Lucy, when he looked onto the only pair of eyes that said to him 'some one loves you'. But he was dwelling on the past too much, she was dead no matter how hard he tried to deny it, and try he did, with every fiber in his being. She was gone, even though every time he went into his cabin he hoped against hope that he would see her sleeping peacefully in their bed or sitting at his desk sketching or day dreaming. And every time he found himself alone at night- in a cold bed, without the warmth of two pale arms wrapped around him- he felt his throat tighten. He refused to weep again, his tears were dried up, but still he mourned. He squeezed the wooden handles on the helm until his knuckles turned white and his dirty nails dug into his fingers and nearly bled. 'This is all that damned Katrina's fault!' he thought. Because he had gotten her with child she had let out where he would be, vulnerable to an attack. 'When I get me hands on that scheming slut she's gonna wish she was never born!'

**Tortuga**

Katrina sat in the corner of the smokey tavern, _The Faithful Bride_, the man who had paid her for information had summoned her again, most likely to give her the other payment. A tall, hooded man came into the room and searched around, his face covered, but soon joined her at her table after some searching.

"So ye get Jack? He was right where I told ye he'd be, wasn't he?" She leaned anxiously farther over the table, or at least as far as she could go being seven months along with child, her middle jutting out.

"Yeah," his voice sounded unusually horse.

"Ye should get sometin' for ye throat, sounds bad. Anyway, are ye gonna give me my payment are what? I should get what I deserve for what I did for ye and all."

"Oh I'll give ye what ye deserve miss," he ripped off his hood and stood up. She gasped, the cloaked man was Jack Sparrow, and he had his pistol aimed straight at her head right between her wide, pale eyes.

"How did ye survive?" she stumbled out of her chair, looking for help. But like all the bars in Tortuga this one was full of fights and no one seemed to notice, it was a common sight around there.

"I'm Captain Jack Sparrow, Katrina! I can get outta anything! And like I said, I'm gonna give ye just what ye deserve," he pulled back the hammer. The pistol was ready to fire into her face.

"Ye can't kill me!" His deep brown eyes seemed to catch fire when she said that, his empty hand clenched into a fist and shook in rage.

"Give me one good reason not to blow your brains out all o're the floor and I'll spare yer life." Frightened more then she had ever been before she thought for a few minutes, not knowing what would set him off and what would save her skin. "I'm waiting," he tapped his booted foot.

"I carry yer child! Ye wouldn't kill yer own child, would ye Jack?"

"Ye blame me for gettin' ye pregnant when ye know wit' yer job it's real easy for that to happen?! Ye told my enemy where I would be helpless in a fight for money and petty revenge! And 'cause of that my bonny lass is dead in me place! Why should I care if ye got a brat in ye?!" His yelling caught the ear of the bartender, a friend of the Sparrows, he had met Jack's new girl when they had been there last. The old man had seen Jack with a lot of women since the sailor was young, but never had he seen him this angry before, and paid close attention to the argument. Sparrow trembled in rage as he looked at the woman crouching on the floor. Black kohl ran down her face along with rouge and white base from the sweat from her fear, her corset made her heave with every breath, the sight disgusted him. But in the back of his mind a little voice, his usually unused conscience, told him it wouldn't be right to kill her while she was with a child. 'Shut up,' he snapped at it and glared at Katrina.

"Don't kill me Jack! I'll give ye anything, anything ye want!" she pleaded.

"I want my luv back, bitch," he seethed. But the voice inside his head continued to plead with him, it said that Lucinda would not want him to take his anger out on an innocent. Shortly it won him over, but only this once he promised himself, so he turned to the barman. "Listen Paul," he threw a bag of coins from an inside pocket onto the counter. "When that woman gives birth find the kid a place to live. A good place. I don't care what happens to her, just help the child. Ye got that?"

"I got it Jack," the man took the money and didn't comment. Jack returned to the prostitute who was having trouble pulling herself off the floor.

"I'll be lettin' ye go Katrina, but only 'cause ye have a Sparrow growin' in ye. Ye can die in birth, on the streets sick as the dog ye are or get beat to death by some drunk customer, I really don't care. But if I hear ye talk 'bout this 'fore I leave ye'll wish I did shoot ye. Savvy?"

"Aye," she gave him a death glare. He spun on his heel, pulled up his hood and strode out the door, his black cape flowing behind him like an ominous cloud.

**Puerto Rico**

"So you say the _Black Pearl_ sacked this town three days ago?" Amanda asked a local fisherman.

"Yes miss, ransacked the tavern and took all the rum" he sounded dejected.

"Did you hear or see which way they were headed?" Emma continued.

"I think I heard somethin' about Tortuga, but I can't be sure. That's all I know, goodbye." He jogged away, not wanting to be around people looking for the most infamous of pirate ships, fearing they were pirates themselves.

The two sisters looked at each other, sighed and began to walk back to the tiny inn where they were staying for now. They didn't want to be on the _Black Diamond_ for awhile, their land legs still weren't working and they had both gotten seasick on the voyage there. So much for being the daughters of an experienced sailor, their father would be laughing his head off or turning in his grave right about now. Lucinda was busy questioning a merchant woman in front of the inn when they finally returned.

"So you don't know anything about where they went?" the old woman shook her head and left. Lucy ran a hand through her loose hair and groaned, she saw her siblings sitting on a barrel as she approached. "Did you two have any luck?"

"A farmer said he heard something about them going to Tortuga," Emma said.

"Tortuga? Why on earth would they be going there? They already have all the supplies they could need for the next few months," Lucinda pondered. Then she remembered that Ragan had mentioned Katrina giving him information when he had arrested her. "Maybe Jack's going to see her," she whispered. Neither Amanda or Emma heard her, Alex and Zack had just come back from their own scouting mission.

"Hello ladies," Alex waltzed up first. "How did ye three do on yer job?"

"All we have is a guess that Jack's gone to Tortuga," Amanda told him.

"Well then that's where we'll go. Zack, go tell the inn keep we'll be leaving now."

"Sure. Wanna come with me, Emma," Zack asked the youngest girl. Her cheeks turned red but she nodded yes and walked into the inn together.

"Who didn't see that one coming?" Amanda tried to look through the keyhole to spy on her sister, but only succeeded in having the back of her dress pulled by Lucinda.

"Don't look in on them," the elder girl scolded.

"Why not? I spied on you and Jack when he was at our house….I shouldn't have said that." Lucinda stood still for a second before she began to chase Amanda around the little courtyard screaming about how she was going to kill her in very imaginative ways. Alex watched this whole escapade with an amused expression of his face, it reminded him of his own sibling squabbles. Although, one could tell why he looked so smug because it was just funny seeing the two of them running around like school children, or it was the combined fact that Amanda had to hike her skirts up rather high in order to run in the first place. One tended to wonder.

"We're all checked out. What's with those two?" Zack asked. "'Manda was tryin' to spy on ye, Lucy stopped her. Then 'Manda said she had been spying on her and our bro the whole time he was with 'em."

"That'll do it," Emma and Zack said at the same time. They looked at one another, he gave her a nudge in the ribs, and she blushed and giggled at him. This would be an interesting journey indeed.


	17. Sweet Dreams

**Disclaimer: **Hey everyone! Sorry I'm a little off schedule, I've been having one hell of a week. To say the least: rampant 2 year old in the house, making plans to see my boyfriend, college registration and so on. Well let me see, I only own the Ocs seen here and naught else, as usual enjoy and tell me what ye think.

**Chapter 17**

It had been three days since they had gotten their single clue in Puerto Rico that Jack may have gone back to Tortuga, and every one was somber as could be. Lucinda was alone in her cabin, looking out the porthole at the choppy night waters, a storm would be coming soon. Alex and Zack had told Lucy and her sisters to stay inside, they had of course complained about the command for quite some time. But they fell silent when Lucinda went white in the face all the sudden and nearly fainted. Now, even though she should have been in bed resting, she was up walking around examining the room's each and every corner to keep from going mad. She had just felt the dizziness come over her out of nowhere, it was like something, or someone had been inside her, taking all her strength right out from under her. The others had no idea what had happened, they assumed that it was some odd case of scurvy, yellow fever or more believable cabin fever.

But the little voice, now named Conscience, in her head told her something had gone wrong, terribly wrong with Jack.

She had this happen to her once before, when her parents were killed. At the time she had been a child, and one day she had turned white as a ghost, her temperature rose, she had passed out for two days. Later when her color returned and her head no long ached, she learned her mother and father had drowned in a boating accident. So even as she tried to ignore the dreadful feeling that made her throat and chest tighten, tried to tell herself it was coinsedence she knew something had happened to Jack. "Stop it, stop it," she said under her breath. "He's fine, nothing is wrong."

Tortuga 

The eldest of the Collins girls walked down the crowded streets, searching for any sign of her missing Captain, but so far just like every where else she had no luck whatsoever. He wasn't in any of the inns, none of the taverns, not even the bartender in the_ Buxom Swedish Meatball_ knew where he could be, she was about to give up hope. Then she saw Scarlet and Giselle standing on a corner, showing off their assets to their best, no doubt waiting for some customers to call on their services. If anyone knew where he could be, it would be them, and if they didn't know for sure then maybe they had some clue to help her find him on her own.

"'Ello hon," Scarlet greeted when she recognized the younger woman. "Where ye been?"

"Long story. Do either of you two know where Jack is?" The working girls exchanged looks of worry, then returned to the younger woman before them.

"Ye mean, ye don't know?" Giselle asked tentativly.

"Know what?" this wasn't looking good.

"Come with us," Scarlet lead the way to the cobblestone town square. In the corner was an ancient gallows, with a new victim hanging from the noose. Lucy's eyes went wide, her hand covered her mouth to stifle a scream but it was no use, her shrill cry rang out over the square for all to hear. With his neck bent in an unnatural angle and hands bound was Jack, dead as a doornail hanging from the rotting rope. His skin was grayish, his eyes glazed over and his body limp as a single gust of wind pushed his hair to reveal the rest of his face to her.

"Katrina gave this military man information 'bout where Jack was. They hung him at dawn today," Giselle sadly explained. Lucinda fell to her knees with tears running down her face in torents as she screamed over and over and called out for Jack.

"No!! Jack!!" she shot up out of bed. It had all been a dream, a horrible nightmare. Amanda and Emma had ran into her room after hearing her screams, they had been the ones to wake her by shaking her shoulders.

"Lucy, are you all right?" they asked, each looked scared to death.

"Fine, I'm fine. I just had a bad dream that's all. You guys go back to bed, I'm better now," she said as she caught her breath.

They left reluctantly, and she was alone again soon enough. The vision had frightened her more than anything had ever done in her life, the feeling still wouldn't leave her. She hugged the covers close to her body as she shivered. But what puzzled her the most was the fact that the woman, Giselle, in her dream had known that Katrina had indeed given Ragan information on where to find the _Black Pearl_.

So it was not an entirely fictitious dream, there was some truth in it, or so she assumed. She only hoped that fact was the only truth to it, once she was in Tortuga she would try to avoid Scarlet and Giselle, just in case. Pulling herself out of the bed she went over to her lantern and lit it, the shadows on the wall danced around as she walked around the cabin, she would never sleep now.

"I have to get a grip on myself," she said. "Jack would be laughing his head off if he saw me scared witless because of a silly dream."

**Tortuga, the real one**

The group of three women and two men wandered through the town, keeping an eye out for either the sight of Jack, or the sound of his excessive talking. But they had been walking for over two hours now and had not found hide nor hair of him. They stopped for a break at a tavern called the_ Faithful Bride_. The place was one big fight, a whorehouse and full with people of questionable intentions. They settled into a booth in the far corner so they wouldn't get involved in the nearest brawl. As they sipped their rum (that was about all the place served) Lucy heard the bartender mention Jack's name. She pushed out of her seat and pushed her way into the crowd to get to the counter.

"Excuse me? Did you say Jack Sparrow?" "That I did missy. Why? Ye want to slap him 'cross the face like all the other girls?" the old man chuckled. "No, I already did a few months ago," she smirked. "'Ave you see him lately?" "I did, a few days ago," he cleaned a mug as he spoke. "He was 'bout to shoot a whore here 'bout three or four days ago." Her eyes went wide at the statement. "Why would he do that?" "No idea really, 'cept maybe one thing. Thought I heard him say somethin' 'bout her gettin' his lass killed." She bit her lower lip, Jack thought she was dead, that was why it was so hard to find him, he didn't want to be found. "Do you know where he went? Is he still here? Did he leave already?" Her words came out in an excited rush. "One question at a time, missy. I don't know where he went, and yeah, he already left couple days ago." the girl sighed and lowered her forehead on the counter, that man was so difficult. "But his friend did stay behind to catch the next merchant ship to Port Royal." Her head shot up and she grabbed the man by his collar. "What friend? Do you know where he is now?" "Whoa little lady, watch the shirt. The guy is stayin' at the _Sultry Siren_ _Inn_, an' his name is…uh…Willy or Wilbur-" Lucinda cut him off. "William?" "That's it!" she let go of his shirt. "Thank you so much!" She dropped some coins on the counter and ran back to her table, told her friends and all of them rushed out the door. As soon as they left the building though, a voice called out and stopped them. Katrina leaned against the wall, her arms crossed over her chest and one of her feet propped on the other. "So I take it ye know 'bout Jack," she said in a bored voice. "What of it?" Lucy asked as she stepped forward. "Do ye know what he's got planned? I heard him tellin' that Will character earlier this week," the over dressed slut examined her nails. "And what exactly does he have planned, Katrina?" The other woman laughed mechanically at her and pushed her coppery hair off her shoulder. "Now why should I tell ye?" "I don't have time for this," she began to walk away. "If ye be lookin' for Jack ye won't 'ave any luck. He's probably dead already," she checked over her nails some more, this time cleaning them. Lucinda halted and spun around on the toe of her shoe. "What is that supposed to mean?" "I thought ye said ye didn't 'ave time to listen to me," she glared under her thick lashes. The female pirate came up to her and yanked her by the sleeves of her thin dress, nearly ripping it. "What do you mean he's probably dead," she said through clenched teeth. Her nightmare ran in and out of her mind, dreading that it had come true already. "He's goin' to his island to kill 'imself," she said it rather smugly. Her opponent shook her hard and her head hit the brick wall, causing some of her knotted hair to fall from its sloppy bun. "Why are you so happy?" "Now neither of us can 'ave him! I'm glad he's gonna die, he didn't care about anything but his damn ship! Not even when I told him I was gonna 'ave his baby, I was stupid to think it would change him!" Lucinda dropped her and she fell to the ground, grinning evilly up at her. "This is your entire fault, whore. We'll see who dies. And if I find him dead you will be next." She stalked off back to her friends, but not before giving Katrina on last withering glare, and led them away in the direction of the inn where Will was staying.   



	18. Journey

**Disclaimer:** whew Well sorry all about taking longer then usual to bring you this new chappie. Things have been sorta hectic 'round here, that and I've just gotten over a rather nasty bout of the flu ; I so enjoyed reading the reviews I got for the last installment thank you all SO MUCH …..that and I just like to make people dangle on a string. evil laugh Was that bad enough or should I do worse? I could do much worse ye know hehehe. I own nothing, blah, blah, blah and on with the show.

**Chapter 18**

It took them surprisingly only fifteen minutes to find the inn, even if it did seem like longer, but they found it and that was all that really mattered. The innkeeper was a stout, middle-aged balding man with a pretty young niece who helped him run the place, which was crumbling in on itself. When they asked him if a William Turner had checked in a few days past he had been too drunk to answer. So the little niece told them in her thick French accent that a young man by that name had requested a room three days prior and was still residing there. At once they told her they were friends of his and asked which room he was in, although it came out in a jumbled mess as they all said it at once. After translating enough of the garbled English she led them up a case of narrow, steep stairs that creaked dangerously to a long hallway lined with doors. Then she pointed to the very last one on the left, hiked up her out of date patched skirts and began to go back downstairs.

But Alex, being the Sparrow that he was, couldn't help himself and gave the girls' bottom a good smack, making her give out a high pitched 'eep' sound and hurried to the ground floor. Amanda gave the back of his head a good hard hit and asked him what would he do if some unknown girl came up and hit his arse.

"I'd enjoy it," he answered with a smirk, his green eyes twinkling. "Men," she grumbled and walked to the door the girl had directed them to. She knocked a few times to the tune of "Greensleeves" and a familiar voice told her to come in. "Stay out here, Lucy," Amanda whispered before entered the room. Will sat on his bed looking through a thin book with illustrations of the latest blacksmith designs, his brown head rose when he heard the door open.

"Miss Amanda, how nice to see you," he stood to greet her, a pained smile on his face. They shared a sibling-like embrace and he sat back down on a stool as he had done the polite thing an offered her the (somewhat) softer bed.

"You don't have to call me 'Miss' Will, you know that."

"But I must, it's common courtesy. Now to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" He sounded sincere but his voice held the sound of repressed grief, and she heard it, she knew this man inside and out and now she was curious. "Will, something's happened, to both of us. Now you tell me what's going on with Jack, then I'll tell you what's going on with me. Alright?" as always she was straight to the point

"I really don't think you want to hear this, Amanda," he looked out the window.

"It doesn't matter if I don't want to hear it. There's someone else who deserves…no needs to know what has happened to him!" Will was confused. Everyone Jack had known already knew, so who else could possibly not know?

"Who?"

"Me." Lucinda walked through the door, head held high, her arms folded across her chest, her feet spread, all together quite a strong image; the image one would expect of the girl who was loved by Jack Sparrow. The blacksmith stood up, astonished, thinking he may be seeing a ghost…..considering what he had already witnessed in his young life a ghost would not be so unbelievable.

"Lucy! How is this possible? You were hung days ago!"

"I escaped obviously, with the help of my sisters of course, and a few extra hands," Alexander and Zackariah came in with Emma. "But when we finally got out of Port Royal we had no clue as to Jack's whereabouts. I know somethin' dire has happened and I want to know what."

"And to think we thought you dead. Poor Jack, you should have seen him, he was a wreck after we left home. He kept on talking in his sleep, even though it isn't unusual for him."

"I know that." Lucy had plenty of trouble sleeping in the same bed as him thanks to his midnight conversations to the people in his dream world.

Will didn't want to know why that was, so he bit his cheek to keep from commenting. "But he kept on saying it was all his fault, that he failed you. So, he gave the _Black Pearl_ to Anna-Maria, and set off in a longboat to his 'island of exile,' as he called it. Was rather odd seeing him so solemn, or so eloquent."

"Why on earth would he do that?" Emma wondered aloud.

"To die," William answered gravely. No one said a thing, leaving the tiny room silent, none that knew Jack thought he would do such a thing as taking his own life. It was just too hard to believe he adored his life to just give in so quickly. His brothers looked at one another, he was their role model, the one who had taken care of them for as far back as they could remember; what would they tell the rest of their family? Lucinda sat down slowly on the windowsill, running the words through her head over and over again. It was she who, not so surprisingly, built up enough courage to speak first.

"Where did he go?" she choked out.

"To an island where he was marooned twice already," Will answered.

"That place?" Alex and Zack said at the same time.

"Yes, he said it was only proper," he put his head in his hands. "I should have stopped him! But even if the entire crew went against his decision he would've found a way off the ship and into a boat. He, we all, thought you were dead, Lucy. He didn't know what else to do."

"Do you know where it is?" She stared intently at her life long friend. "If you do, Will, tell me. It _is_ still possible to catch him before it's too late. Or better yet, maybe we can find the _Black Pearl_ and have them take us to this island."

"I can vaguely remember where it is, but I can try," he stood. "But he's been there for some time without food or water. And then there is the fact that we don't have a ship near fast enough to catch his."

"Oh yes we do," Alex came forward.

"Who are you?" Will could have sworn this was Jack, a younger version at least, except that he had bright green eyes, but the resemblance was startling.

"Allow me to introduce meself," he bowed a very low bow. "I'm Alexander Sparrow. And this be me younger brother Zackariah Sparrow, Jack's younger siblings, or at least most of them."

"Nice to finally meet you, Will," Zack held out his hand, Will shook it. "Jack told us plenty about ye."

"I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing," the girls found this very amusing.

"Okay, enough formalities," Lucy stood. "Let's get back to the ship now, we have a crew to catch," they all left following her.

**The _Black Diamond_**

"This is quite the vessel," William examined the ship with wide eyes. The ship was nearly identical to the very one they were attempting to catch, the only real difference-besides the name- being the figure head was a mermaid not holding a bird but a conkshell. "She's sister to the _Black Pearl_, we should get there in no time," the two brothers were very proud of their beloved _Diamond_. "No wonder, both ships are the most amazing I have ever seen." Amanda rolled her eyes, oh yes, that was just what they needed, and to have Will boost that nut's (Alex) ego. "Alright people we don't have time for this," she looked at them. "Now Will, you go with Alex and Zack to plot the course. Me and the girls have to familiarize ourselves with the ship." "I luv it when ye use my nick name," Alex purred in Amanda's ear. "I'm sure you do, now get to work," she brushed his cheek as she walked away. So they separated for the time being, Lucinda left her sisters in the room they had claimed for their own to walk up on deck to watch the horizon. The bright yellow orb in the sky was just on the edge projecting light beams onto the brilliant blue water, it was quite the sight. She thought back to a scene much like this one. 

_**Flashback**_

She leaned over the rail of the _Black Pearl_ as the day turned to night, admiring the natural beauty of it from her view at the bow of the ship. "Sure is pretty, ain't it?" She turned to see Jack coming up behind her, walking his usual unusual walk. They had just left Tortuga and were on their way to only god knows were; well perhaps maybe Jack knew where. "I've seen more luvly things," he said airily. "What could possibly be more beautiful than a sunset over the sea?" she raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't ye like to know?" he matched her expression. "I'll tell ye later, come on, I wanna eat," he walked off. "Wait, I want to know!" The girl hurried to his side, she couldn't resist knowing what he thought was beautiful, and in a way was a little jealous of whatever (or whoever) it was. But he stayed silent as the grave with a silly smirk plastered on his ruggedly handsome face. "Come on Jack, tell me," she pouted hoping to appeal to his softer mentalities…if he had any. "Nope." "Please?" "Hmmm," he rubbed his beard, "…no." "Well then give me a hint," she was stubborn as ever. "Guess a little hint wouldn't hurt. Alright, the one thing that's prettier then the settin' sun. Let's see, part of it's like a palm tree, another like the moon an' the last part is sorta like an' emerald." "What?" she blinked "A riddle? I hate riddles, I can't ever get them!" "Yeah, I know. I happened to hear ye tell that to Gibbs a few days ago," he hurried to the galley. "Wait, hey!" She took one last glance at the descending star then went down the stairs into the interior of the ship grumbling about silly games and men. 

_**End Flashback**_

Then she was stilled, and thought for a moment and ran the description he had given her through her mind once more.

"Like a palm tree, what could be like a tree," she twirled her hair around her finger. It caught her eye, her brown hair, a tree had brown bark. "Okay, that's interesting. Now the moon," it had just begun to be visible, light and full. Her pale arm rested on the railing. "Pale skin," the final part didn't need explaining, "my eyes are green. So that's the one thing more beautiful than the sunset. Jack's a poet, I didn't know it," she laughed. After that little discovery she went into the room she, Amanda and Emma shared to get some well-deserved sleep. Her younger siblings were sitting on one of the cots, which were much more comfortable than the one she had used on Ragan's ship, talking as they always did before they retired for the night. 

"Ah, Lucy, just the person we were talking about," Amanda said in her conniving voice.

"What were you talking about me for?" To her this could not be all good, her sisters were known to plot mischievous things against her and it figured that even in a time like this they wouldn't stop their toying. "Well, if we find Jack-" began Emma. "**When** we find him," Lucinda corrected. "All right, when we find him, we were wondering when the wedding was gonna be." the oldest sister stood stock still, this was not one of the usual plots they concocted. "What do you mean by wedding?" "Well you have to marry him eventually," Amanda said it like the whole world realized it as a fact. "And when you decide to, I want to have full authority on what you'll be wearing. I do have superior fashion taste after all." "Please 'Manda, you wouldn't know fashion if it hit you in the face," Emma said. "Both of you quiet, I don't need to think about this now. Jack isn't exactly the marrying type, and neither am I," she ran a hand through her loose hair. "We'll just see about that. I bet he's thinking of you right now," Amanda told her.   
_**Jack's Island**_ He lay back on the sand, gazing up at the starlit sky, but it just didn't have the same beauty it used to have. He had been there two days now, had considering the circumstances it hadn't been_ so _bad as there had actually been some rum left after Elizabeth had destroyed the majority of it. And that was what he had been living off of so far, living off of being blessedly drunk all the time to tell the truth. It had taken away some of the pain and most of the reality. "Won't be long now," he said to the water as he took another gulp of rum. "Nope, not long at all. I'm comin' darlin'!" He waved his bottle around absent mindedly like a madman. Then he promptly passed out and collapsed on the beach. 


	19. Family Chat

Disclaimer: Welcome back faithful readers To start let me say that I own nothing that Disney has already put out for the masses, the rest though is mine and I wuv it so. So here we are nearing the end of this little adventure with only a few more chapters to go. As usual tell me what you think and have fun. 

Chapter 19 

**The _Black Diamond_**

It was near noon now and they still had not even had a sighting of their quarry, the _Black Pearl_,and the outcome was starting to seem hopeless. Lucinda leaned on the staircase railing at the stern, pushing her long braid over her shoulder and sighed, this was really beginning to work on her very last nerve. And though she didn't show it to anyone else, she was more frightened then she had ever been, damn Jack's stupidity, he would be getting it once they found him.

Honestly, how could he do this to her?

A figure appeared at the corner of her eye, Zack had came up from behind her and copied her stance, miming as best he could, trying to cheer her up.

"It isn't working Zackariah," she said dully.

"Even so, I can always try can' I?" he grinned sheepishly.

"I guess you can," she gave a little smile. "Do you think we can actually find them?"

"We can only hope missy. Don' worry, Jack's a tough guy, a few days on some island won't kill 'im, it didn't the last two times."

"I don't want to know how he got off that place the last two times," she muttered.

"Well I'll tell ye anyway, it'll help ye. The first time he was there for weeks and was almost to the point where he was ready to kill 'imself…which I maybe shouldn't 'ave mentioned. But he waded out into the water and stood there for days and the fish got used to him. Then he roped up some turtles and rafted off that pile of sand. The second time that girl Elizabeth burned up all his rum and the Navy came and got him, not much on that account."

"He had a turtle boat?"

"Basically," he shrugged.

"'Cause Elizabeth told me that he spent three days on that island and drank rum all day until he bargained his way off with some rum runners."

"Well ye can't believe everything ye hear," he stretched. "Speaking of rum I'm thirsty, what about ye?"

"No thanks, Zack."

"Yer loss," he went into the galley, sauntering what could only be called the 'Sparrow walk'. Minutes later Emma took his place and leaned next to her sister.

"Hi Em," she said, seemed that she was popular tonight.

"Hi Lucy…can we talk?" she twisted her hands nervously. Lucy saw it and faced the younger woman and pulled her twitching hands apart, they were freezing despite the warm climate.

"Of course. What's the matter?"

"I overheard something Amanda and Alex were talking about earlier."

"Were you eavesdropping, again?"

"Kind of. But I heard him ask her if she would stay with him after we found Jack, I think they might run off together," she kicked at the deck.

"That sounds like her," said Lucinda. Emma stared at her in shock, almost as if she could not believe the blasphemous words she had just heard pass from her sister's lips.

"How can you say that?"

"Say what? That what you just said sounds like something Amanda would do?"

"Yes! How could you?" exclaimed Emma, her eyes wide as a toddlers in distress.

"I can because I know she would do something like that with Alex. It's simply what she does, I've known that for some time you know."

"So it doesn't bother you that as soon as you find Jack she'll run off with a pirate?" said Emma. Lucy stared at her blankly.

"I did it." The younger woman was quiet for a second, trying to think of a good come back.

"Well…that was you!" Now that was cleaver. "You were kidnapped, she's doing it on her own."

"I decided that I was going to stay with Jack, is that any different?"

"But…but…" she didn't know how to say that which she had kept inside her for days.

"What are you trying to say, Emma? Tell me." A comforting hand landed on the girl's shoulder and squeezed gently.

"But what will happen when she goes to only god knows where and you leave with Jack? What will happen to me? Who will I have when you two leave me?" Her eyes started to water and she sniffled a little.

"We're not going to leave you-"

"Yes you are! All you've been doing is moping about Jack, and all she's been doing is flirting with Alex!"

"Emma!" she grasped both her shoulders and gave her a hard shake. "Put yourself in my place for just a moment. Jack means so much to me, and he could be dying right now while I sit around on this cursed boat! I can't help but worry!" Water built up in her own eyes at that thought but she refused to let them fall in front of the family

"And what about Amanda?"

"She's always been hunting for a new man to toy with, this is nothing new. And we aren't leaving you, and we never will." Emma wiped away the tears running down her face and thought about what she had just been told. Lucy had always been protective of those she cared for and would worry about any of them, it was a comforting thought.

"So I won't be alone?"

"No, you've always had me and 'Manda. And now you have Zack, and don't try to say you don't like him the way I've seen you two together."

"Well…I don't know…I never had a lover before," she stuttered.

"And neither have I, so we're even."

"But what will happen when we do find Jack? What if it's too late?" Emma asked.

"If he lives when I see him again then I'll go through with the agreement we had and I'll stay with him just like I promised. But if he's…" she couldn't say the 'D' word. "Then I'll just have to find some new way to live. I can't go back home, I'll be hung, and he wouldn't want me to throw my life away. I honestly don't know what I'd do with myself."

"I see. So you say, I have Zack if you go marry Jack?" Lucy nearly lost her balance and fell over the railing. After a moment of gaining back full use of her lungs she faced Emma with huge eyes and an open mouth. "Why are you imitating a fish?"

"I'm not. You really caught me off guard there, little sis. Who said I was getting married?"

"Well it's just what people in love do, or so I thought." Emma stated, her blond-ness coming through.

"I have no idea if I'm gonna get married, he may not want to, he just doesn't seem the type." Said Lucinda

"Oh, well I hope he does marry you."

"Why?" As nice as a thought as it seemed she just couldn't see him of all people standing at an altar or in front of a judge to tie himself to a single woman for the rest for his life. He was just not the kind of man to do that, at least she thought so.

"Because it would make you happy and he should respect that. And if he really loves you then he wouldn't do anything less than making you happy." Now she was the one in real shock, her baby sister had suddenly become a full-grown woman right before her eyes. For the first time she saw that the little girl was grown up, and for once she had said something truly meaningful.

"You honestly think that?" asked Lucinda.

"Of course. I've seen it with Will and Elizabeth," for once she didn't growl or hiss at the woman's name. "They can only make the other happy, and I can only hope it's the same with you and Jack."

"Then why were you so upset just a moment ago about me leaving with him?" By now she was thoroughly confused.

"Because," Em took a deep breath, "I thought him and his brother were taking my sisters away from me and it would leave me alone." Lucinda tenderly brushed back Emma's short, dark blond hair from her face.

"We would never leave you alone. Now go and find Zack, I'm sure he's wondering where you disappeared to," she gave her a nudge.

"Alright, I've been wanting to see him anyway." The slim girl gave her a small grin and went down into the mess hall to find the youngest Sparrow brother. Lucy sighed and rested her chin in her hands as she looked at the sea once more.

Both of her sisters were all grown up, no longer depending on her for help and protection, it was a new concept for her. And she didn't know how to react.

"Please Jack, hold on a little longer," she whispered. "Or else I'll be the one left all alone. Once Emma and Amanda start their own lives you'll be all I'll have left."

The next morning, or as it should be called, the next afternoon, Lucinda awoke to the sound of shouts and the pounding of feet all over the decks. She pulled herself from the comfy bed, even if she had begun to get sicker as the days went on and she found her strength waning, threw on a robe and climbed up the stairs to the upper level to see what all the fuss was about. When she got there the crew was running around, preparing to meet and board another ship. She looked to the starboard side of the _Black Diamond_ to see a nearly identical ship coming towards them at an alarming speed. Alexander and Zackariah were grinning like idiots at the sight.

"Raise up our flag, let 'em see who it is!" Alex shouted, her bright green eyes twinkling.

"Dolt, they know who we are," Zack hit his brother upside the head. Lucinda smiled at the beautiful ship approaching them, only the _Black Pearl_ could stir such deep feelings in her, she knew what Jack meant when he said it was his freedom. From now on she would see it as hers as well.


	20. Welcome Home

**Disclaimer:** clears throat awkwardly Well here we are….late though. In my defense it was my 19th birthday last Saturday so I had lots of stuffs with that. Yeah for me! Other then that I have had the first two weeks of college to deal with-which is hard. So yeah, that's why I haven't been updating forgive me. Moving along I own nothin' except what is obviously mine. Have fun friends .

**Chapter 20**

Anna-Maria stood at the helm of the legendary pirate ship, steering it along as it glided closer and closer to its sister. She held up her spyglass and saw the two crazy Sparrow brothers guiding it, acting like the numbskulls they were, as always. The ebony skinned woman shook her head and sat the glass down, they were near enough to board now and she gave the order to ready the planks and hooks to connect the two vessels. Then she joined her crew, she still could not get used to calling them **her** crew, and crossed the impromptu wooden bridges. William Turner of all people came to greet her.

"Will! What are ye doin' here? I thought ye were gonna stay in Tortuga and hop on the next boat to Port Royal," she shook his outstretched hand.

"I was, but I had a change of plans." Amanda and Emma came up behind him, another unexpected surprise, she had only glimpses of Lucy's sisters before, but she had heard plenty about them from their older sister. She struggled inside herself to not think about the death of her first real friend.

"Alright then. So why did ye flag us down? We were headed to the Bahamas for the new shipments from Britain' there."

"I need to ask a favor of you. We have an emergency of sorts-" the buxom red head cut him off.

"Enough formalities, Will. Anna-Maria is it?" the black woman nodded. "I heard good things about you not too long ago. But to the point, we need you to take us to Jack." Anna was stunned for a moment, but regained herself quickly.

"It was his wishes that we stay aways from him. Why do ye want to see 'im?"

"Because there was a terrible mistake," Will said, his voice thick.

"What kinda mistake?"

"Our sister isn't dead," the thin girl spoke up. Anna presumed this would be Emma from the way she had been described to her.

"What do ye mean, girl? She was hung 'bout a week ago in Jack's place," she began to get nervous.

"We sprung 'er from jail the day of 'er execution," Alex came sauntering up. "We didn't know if our dear brother was comin' or not."

"She ain't dead? Well where is she?"

"In her cabin, all this searching for Jack has exhausted her and she's been barely eating she's so upset, she's literally worried herself sick," Emma said as she lead the she-pirate to the room. She opened the door and the new Captain of the _Black Pearl_ rushed in. Lucy sat on her bed as she downed a mug of hot tea. When she saw Anna- Maria she nearly choked on the liquid and sat it hard on the table beside her, spilling half of it onto the floor.

"Anna!" "Lucy!" She ran to her sick friend and enveloped her in a tight hug and rocked her back and forth, not believing that she was really alive. "Oh god, I thought ye were dead!"

"I'm okay, Anna. My sisters helped me out, everything's gonna be fine now," she hugged back, she could feel warm water leaking onto her shoulder.

"Everythin's gone so wrong!" she held the other girl at arms length. "Do ye know what's 'appened to Jack?"

"Yes I know, that's why we're here, to have you take us to him before it's…too late."

"Well then what am I waitin' for," she stood up and headed for the door. "Oh, do ye want to come on the _Black Pearl_, Jack would want ye there when he's on it again." The English woman pondered, then looked at her friend.

"Of course I do, just give me a minute to change," she pulled some clothes out of a bag.

"I'll be on deck waitin'," she left wearing the first true smile she wore in a week.

After she had braided her hair and clothed herself in a clean shift, red skirt, burgundy vest and a pair of black leather shoes she came up on deck. William was talking with Anna- Maria, most likely saying goodbye, and surprisingly so were Emma and Amanda. Apparently they had taken a liking to the she-pirate the same as she.

"There she is," they came up to her.

"Are you sure about this, we don't want you going to that island only to be…" Will didn't know how to phrase it, he was just as worried about learning that his friend had perished like that.

"Don't worry about me," she patted his shoulder. "I know perfectly well what can happen and I've accepted that." She told him that but deep down she wasn't so sure that she could accept Jack's death.

"Now drink a lot of water, I don't want you getting sicker," Emma said. "And eat hot food and-"

"Emma, I think she knows how to take care of herself," Amanda scolded.

"It's alright," the eldest told her. "I understand why she's like that," she gave her littlest sister a knowing look. Zack and Alex came up behind them, the former placing his hands on Emma's arms as if to soothe her poor nerves. They had obviously came to terms of what had developed between them, and the same went for the other two, it was all rather sweet really. "Will, what about you? When are you going back to Port Royal?"

"As soon as I know what the outcome of all this is, then I will head back home. Elizabeth is going to have my head for being away so long," he pulled at his ponytail nervously.

"Well, we're off then," Anna said. She and Lucy walked over the planks and stepped on to the _Black Pearl. _It felt like she had come home after a long trip, and actually, in a way it was. The crew nearly had a heart attack when they saw her come aboard, even those who thought she was bad luck were amazed and happy she wasn't gone for good and safely back on the ship. "What are ye all lookin' at? We can't go get the Capin' come back without 'is lady now can we?"

Immediently they set to work to turn the ship around and head back to the island they had just left days before. Anna brought her into the Captain's cabin, it looked a wreck.

"What the hell happened here?" she pulled a night stand back to it's feet.

"Between Jack goin' crazy, again, and my house cleanin' skills-"

"Or lack of," Lucy picked up a pile of dirty clothes.

"The room's been less then livable," she sat on the unmade bed.

"Well, it looks like I'm going to be doing a lot of work then isn't it?"

"You're not gonna be workin', Jack would have me head if he knew I let ye work while ye were sick."

"Nonsense, I'm not that sick, it's just a cold. And if he saw this place I'm sure he would think it a dump and not his cabin," she rubbed her leaky nose.

"Actually, this was a grade A bachelors room until he decided to bring ye here. So he's used to livin' in a sty."

"I should have known," she grunted and threw another pile into the center of the room. One of Jack's jackets was in that group and a slip of paper was sticking out from the inside. Curious as usual Lucinda bent over and pulled it out and unfolded it. "What the…my letter," she read over the words. "He did get it."

"What's that?"

"Something I wrote to Jack when Ragan had me in his brig."

"Let's see it," she made a grab for it.

"I'd rather you not, it's kinda personal," she put it in her pocket.

"Oh, alright. Well I'm gonna go back up on deck. Do whatever ye want, just don't get any sicker. Like I said 'fore, Jack would have me head on a plaque on the wall if I let ye make yeself any worse."

"Don't worry, Anna, I won't," the pirate woman left the room and closed the door tight behind her. Lucinda took out the letter again and looked over it with sad eyes. There were stains on it, water stains, making parts of the indigo ink run. She wasn't crying when she penned it, she prided herself knowing she held the tears back as she wrote it. "I made you cry Jack, I'm so sorry," she placed the paper on the desk, which was still upright. "Just wait a little longer and everything will be back to normal, I promise."

**The_ Black Diamond_**

Emma sat at the long table in the mess hall, toying at her lunch of seafood stew with a wooden spoon over an over. Zack came up next to her and stole a bit of her bread and bit off a grand chunk of it.

"Why so glum, twiggy?"

"I miss Lucy. The three of us are hardly apart, so I don't know how to act about it."

"She's in the ship right next to us, how could ye miss 'er?"

"Well, I just do. She gave me a talking to last night, and I feel a lot better about that. But it's still strange to think about both of my sisters settling down."

"Ye think that ye sister is gonna settle down once she 'as Jack again? Sometimes Emma I think ye be loosing yer mind," poor girl coughed on her ale, he patted her back to keep her from choking.

"I get enough of that from Amanda, I don't need you to think I'm crazy too."

"Well then, yer not crazy. Happy now?"

"Much, thank you," she replied sarcastically.

"Now that we've made up for that little squabble, what do ye say ye come take a walk with me?"

"Where?"

"Oh I dunno, I'll think of somethin.'" He grinned suggestively at her, making her blush as red as Amanda's hair. Just as Zack tried to lean in to steal a kiss his older brother and her older sister came in laughing and acting like the idiots they were. Zack banged his head on the table muttering curses as Emma wiped her forehead in relief.

"Well hello there lovebirds," Amanda said as she sat with them.

"Don't call us that," Emma muttered as she found her food quite interesting once more.

"Why not? It's only the truth," Amanda took a dried apricot from a bowl on the table and threw it in the air and let it land on her tongue then swallowed it whole.

"Why must you do that? You're gonna choke doing it one day."

"No she ain't," Alex slung his arm around her lazily, "I won' let 'er." Emma rolled her eyes and stood, excused herself and walked back on deck, Zack of course followed her. Just like the hopeless puppy dog he was, the other two grinned.

**Rumrunner's Isle**

Jack Sparrow contemplated the meaning of life, as he lay near lifeless on the pale sand, it caused his head to hurt. If life's purpose was to live to the fullest then how did he rank on the scale?

Did he do all that he could have? Obviously not.

Had he traveled all that he could? No, still one more continent to see.

Was his name secure in the history books? If he died like this there wasn't much chance of that.

He downed the last of his rum supply, "damn." Now he couldn't even pass on in a slightly better mood, the powers that be weren't making this easy for him. This would have been a moment when his dear beloved would have scolded him for being such a slacker, she wouldn't have wanted him to complain.

"Fer ye darling-hic-I'll be good……I tink….," he slurred. That thought made him sober long enough to think about what he had just said. Would he even be seeing her in the next world? In his experience what awaited him was not at all what he would want for his love, she had been an angel to him. A dagger twisted in his black heart, they likely wouldn't have the chance to be together in the future then they did in the present.

"Damn you!" he tossed his empty bottle into the sea. "Why give 'er to me just to take 'er away!? Why!?"


	21. Together Again

**Disclaimer: **Well here we are, almost to the end, one more chapter to go (not if you count an epilogue) And here it is-the moment you have all been waiting for-Jack is Back! happy dance To get it over-with, I own nottin' of Disney's yadda, yadda, yadda. R & R my friends

**Chapter 21**

"Not much longer now," Lucinda said as she pulled the blankets over herself. "Oh god, I'm acting stupid again," she slapped her forehead. Then she was racked by an onslaught of coughing and a couple sneezes in a row, she definitely was getting sicker and it was not at all just the cold she wished it was. "Now I know the meaning of 'worrying yourself sick..'" Anna walked in with a tray holding a hot mug of tea and a bowl of beef soup.

"Feelin' any better?" She put the tray on the nightstand and felt her friend's forehead.

"Not really," she reached for the cup.

"Ye got to stop all this worryin', it's takin' away yer appetite and makin' ye sick."

"How can I not worry? The man I love is out on some god-forsaken island waiting to die because he thinks I'm dead and I'm not! Why do all these things happen to me?" she drank her tea and buried her face in her pillow.

"Now, now, we'll be at the place in a few days, no need to get any more upset," Anna soothed.

"A few **days**? What if he can't make a few more days? Can't this pile of firewood go any faster?"

"We're goin' as fast as we can, Lucy. An' I dunno if Jack would appreciate ye callin' 'is ship a 'pile of firewood,' it's his pride an' joy."

"I don't care how much he likes this thing! If it can't get me to him before he dies I'll make it into a child's toy top!"

"Okay, that's enough from ye, time to eat," she placed the tray on Lucinda's lap. The sick girl slurped down the hot broth and drank slowly, trying to calm down. "There, ye see? Better already."

"Kinda," she said as she brought the spoon to her lips.

"Well once ye're done just leave it on the nightstand and I'll come an' get it before I go to bed. Now get to bed at a reasonable time, no late night sketching or anything!"

"I won't, not enough light anyway."

"Alright then. I'll see ye in the mornin' then, g'night."

"Good night," Anna left the room. For some time she sat in the soft feather mattress eating, and when she finished she did what Anna told her to and sat down in front of the mirror. She brushed out her long, brown hair and began to re-braid it as it had fallen out since earlier that day. Pulling on a thin, lace- trimmed nightdress and stockings she climbed back into bed with a rather beat up looking book. It was unfortunately one of the few books she could find on the ship. Anna-Maria said they had more not long ago, but Jack had sold them for the canvas for the replacement sails. She turned the book over a few times in her hands, there were only two words on the cover, the words spelled out '_Jack's Journal' _in raised gold letter_s_. Her eyebrow raised and she fingered through the surprisingly many pages until she came to a somewhat recent date.

"Forgive me, dearest but I can't resist," she said to no one as she leafed around in the book. The date she landed on was from a month or two ago, about the time she had come aboard. "This should be interesting."

_Today was the single most amazing day of my long and adventurous life._

"So he does know some proper English," she mused and read on, "hmm, modest too I see."

_I saw what I thought was an angel leaning over me a couple days ago. But that was my imagination running away with me, again. What I saw was a girl, a beautiful young girl, she says her name is Lucinda. I sound like one of Lizzy's silly little novels. But this girl was just gorgeous; anyone who looks at her will say the same I know. And as soon as I'm back on my feet (I got conked on the head by a bottle of rum, again) I'm gonna take her with me._

"Well, it's nice to know he had noble intentions," she closed the book and laid her head on the fluffy pillow. She gave the book a tender stroke down it's binding with her long fingernails. "Goodnight, Jack." Then she fell into a dreamless slumber for the next few hours.

**Later that Night**

Anna woke up to the sound of heavy pounding on her cabin door. The room she had slept in was Mr. Gibbs room, but he had been kind enough to lend it to her; that and so Lucy being back she could have the cabin she was accustomed to. So Anna sluggishly pulled herself form the bed, muttered some of the colorful language pirates were known for and opened the door.

"What is it?" William was standing there in his breeches and nothing else.

"We've reached the island!"

"What?! We weren't supposed to get there fer some time! How'd we get 'ere this fast?"

"An unexpected gust of wind must have come along while we all slept. I went out because I couldn't sleep and the man in the crows nest called down to me that he could make out land ahead of us."

"But how do ye know it's the island we're lookin' for?"

"We were on a direct route to it, right?"

"Well, yeah. But what are the chances of us findin' it this fast on the same night we start to look for it?"

"Stranger things have happened, Anna-Maria," Will gave her a knowing look. "Okay fine. I'll get dressed and ye start to wake up the crew, but don't wake up Lucy. The last thing we need is to 'ave her tromping around sick in the middle of the night." So he did as she told him to and soon enough the crew was readied on deck to release the long boats and go ashore and contact the _Black Diamond_. The only drawback was that the men had been so loud that they had woken up Lucinda anyway, so now she was pulling on her light robe over her nightgown and walking topside.

"What's going on?" she asked a nearby sailor. The man seemed startled to see the (former) Captain's woman out there, sick, and in her nightclothes.

"We're at the island Miss," he told her.

"We are? But I thought we wouldn't get there for a few more days!"

"A front came in late last night and gave the ship the extra push she needed to get here. I tell ye what I think, I think it's a sign."

"Oh…" she trailed off. Quickly she regained her composure and searched around for Anna or Will, but when she asked another crewman where they were he told her they had already gotten in a boat and headed off. "Damn," then she saw a group of men loading into the last boat. "Hey! Wait up!"

The seven men looked up and saw her coming and moved over to make space, they had seen her temper and didn't want to upset her at a moment like this. As they lowered the little boat Lucinda could make out the shore of the tiny island out in the black waters, she could also see some boats coming from the large ship next to them.

**The Island** (A/N: that thing should really have name)

Amanda stumbled over some driftwood as she stepped on shore, Emma was not as fortunate, she fell on her face.

"Get up stick bug, we have a man to find!" she raced off holding a torch high.

"Why does she have to act like that?" the thin one asked herself as she followed. The two wandered around the tiny island calling out for Jack, as did the rest of the crew, but for some time they came up with nothing, strange seeing how small it was. As Emma scouted the last area they had not yet searched she tripped over a rather large log and fell, for the second time that night, on top of it. The odd thing was that the log grunted and was softer than any wood she had ever fallen on before. "What the?" She looked down and saw the tell tale face of Jack Sparrow, who at the moment was trying to regain all the wind she had knocked out of him. "Everyone come over here, I found him!!!"

Immediately people came running from every direction to where she was and pulled her to her feet and him into a sitting position. Jack was anything but willing.

"Let me go ye scurvy dogs! Can't a man die in peace?" He brushed off the man holding him up, who just happened to be William. "I said let me go!"

"Jack," Alex and Zack ran up with Amanda and Anna behind them. "Thank god yer all right," he said.

"Yeah, ye gave us a scare brother," the youngest added. But Jack was too busy trying to get a hold of the nearly empty rum bottle beside him.

"Looks like Elizabeth didn't destroy all of it," Will commented. Then some of the men began to grunt and double over as someone began to fight their way through to the center off all the commotion.

"Let me through, move it!" Lucy finally made it to the middle, Jack dropped his bottle and stared in disbelief at her just before she dropped to her knees, knocked him over again as she wrapped her arms around him.

Jack looked up at her, her long hair was falling loose from it's braid, her long white garments floated in the slight breeze and her eyes seemed to catch the light of the pale moon.

"I knew it," he whispered.

"Knew what?" she asked through a tear choked throat.

"I'm dead already," she stopped crying and looked at him as if he had lost his mind. "And yer an angel now 'cause yer dead too." 'Oh no not this again' was what went through several peoples minds.

"You're not dead and I'm not dead, Jack. You're alive."

"No I'm not, I died here and now yer here so I must be dead."

"I never died, you just thought I did. Now get up, we need to get you back to the _Black Pearl_ and get some water in you," she tried to pick him up. He pulled back and held her so tight she thought he might break her in two. "I can't breathe."

"Now, now luv, we're dead, we don't need to breathe or drink anything anymore. Damn, that means no rum no more." She pinched him hard on his ribs and he released her to check the damage.

"I didn't die Jack! Amanda, Emma and your brothers helped me get out at the last minute, you only thought I had been hung!" she grasped his shoulders and shook him.

"Ye didn't die that day?" he seemed partly confused and partly hoping.

"No," she started to smile.

"So I didn't fail ye?"

"No," her eyes filled with happiness once more as realization dawned in his dark brown irises. Suddenly she was wrapped in the loving embrace she had missed so much and could feel his lips in her hair and hear his heart beat in her ear. "Oh Jack I missed you so much, don't ever scare me like that again," she murmured into his shirt.

"Never, I'll never leave ye again luv." He seemed oblivious to the crowd around them and the state he was in as he dipped his head to hers and claimed her soft pink lips as feverishly as a beast claiming it's mate. Most of the crew turned away and acted as if nothing out of the ordinary was going on, but that doesn't necessarily include Anna.

"Alright break it up!" she pulled them apart. "We need to get both of ye onto the ship before yer really dead, so come on!"

"Don't touch me woman! Can't ye see I'm busy with me lady 'ere?" he slurred.

"I can see that, Captain but right now if we don't get ye lady back inside yer nice warm cabin she'll catch her death of cold out here!" He thought a moment, one could almost here the wheels in his rum filled head turning ever so painstakingly slowly.

"Alright," he said at last and stood up, or tried to stand up. Due to no real drink or food for days he was not very strong to say the least, his brothers had to practically carry him back to his ship. But not once did he let go of Lucy's hand the whole way there.


	22. Alone at Last

**Disclaimer:** dances insanely around in circles Almost finished! Can you all believe it?! Here you have the final 'real' chapter of the first installment of my POTC universe. Things have clamed down…….for now, so be prepared for some of the most senseless smut ye've ever seen. So brushes away tear our time together is almost over, so let's get this over with-I own nothing Disney has already come up with. R & R pweeese.

**Chapter 22**

They laid Jack down on his own bed, in his own cabin and had to practically wrestle the last nearly empty bottle of rum from him. Eventually he relinquished it, but when they tried to take Lucinda from him to place her in another room, then he stopped, sat up and looked up at them with narrow eyes.

"Where do you think you're taking her?" Alex let go of Lucy's arm as though it had burned him and backed away very slowly, he knew well enough that when Jack used proper English that only a fool would go against him.

And it seemed Emma was that fool.

"But she's sick! If she gives you her cold you could end up worse then you already are and-" Zack clamped her mouth shut with his hand. When his brother, either one really, would speak in the King's English he was not to be hounded after.

Amanda brought a keg of water and said, "we'll just build up a nice hot fire and go." Said fire was lit within minutes and had Will carry the keg in and sat it on the table. "You haven't had water in days so we need you to drink as much as possible. That goes for you too Lucy, you need as much liquid as you can get."

"Yes, mother," the eldest replied but it seemed that no one noticed the sarcastic comment.

"Well that's about it for the night," Will yawned like a tired cat, "we all have a long day ahead of us, so I'm off to bed. Good night Jack, it's good to have you back." His 'friend' nodded and threw his coat onto the hanger on the wall, he was already beginning to act like his old self. "Good night Miss Lucy," he walked to the door.

"For the millionth time Will, you don't have to call me miss," but he had shut the door already, leaving only two souls left in the room.

Lucy sighed and was about to comment on William's overbearing sense of chivalry when Jack covered her mouth with his own. She moaned low in her throat and wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her hands into his thick and tangled black hair. In turn Jack pulled her so close to him she thought she would meld right into his body, she rather liked the idea. But no matter how tight he held her it never seemed to be close enough, neither thought it would ever be. When they broke apart they both were laboring for breath but it was irrelevant, the only thing that mattered to each one was the other. Jack spent no time in proceeding with his business on the beach and Lucinda soon found herself, quite contentedly, nestled again a broad chest with a pair of strong arms wrapped tightly around her. In a move very unlike him Jack nuzzled his face into her hair, took a long breath and held back tears forming in his eyes, not believing that she was really alive, here, with him.

"Jack, we shouldn't be doing this, I could get you sick or-" he placed his fingers over her lips.

"Shhh, luv, I need to know that yer real and not some angel I imagined." He leaned against the headboard and pulled her onto his lap and wrapped his arms around her again.

"I'm real, Jack, not the angel you thought I was when we first met. Remember that? You thought you were dead then too," she giggled slightly, it felt so good to be happy again.

"Any man would think ye an angel, darlin', yer just so beautiful," he nuzzled the top of her head affectionately some more, very much like a content pet. A sigh passed her lips and she relaxed but then reality hit her and she pulled out of his embrace and hurried over to the table and filled a mug with the water from the keg.

"You need to get some liquid, other than rum, into you or else you'll be the one being the angel." Slowly he took the cup from her outstretched hands and downed it in one long gulp.

"I'm no angel, luv, I'm a pirate, there's a difference." After that he sat the mug on the nightstand, but she picked it up and filled it again and made him drink even more. This happened three more times until he was ready to break the ceramic mug and throw the keg out the window. "Enough, woman! I've 'ad enough water for the night!"

"I just don't want you to get any worse than you already are," she sat down, her eyes determined yet with the hint of something warm deep inside.

"Well what 'bout ye? Yer sick too," he folded his arms over his chest.

"Yeah but-"

"No buts, now get in bed," he pointed to the spot next to him and pulled down the covers. Tired eyes rolled as she took off her robe and crawled underneath the soft blankets and snuggled deep into the soft feather mattress. Jack slung his leg lazily over her thigh, his arm over her waist and let her head rest on the hollow of his shoulder. "'Fore ye go to sleep we need to get a few things straight."

"And what would they be?" she asked sleepily.

"From now on ye can't leave the ship without me." Her head turned up with a look of horror, he promptly ignored it. "Second, as soon as we get into the next port I'm findin' a priest or judge or sometin' to marry us. Ye got that? No more silly bargains with stupid Navy men. And no more making me think yer dead." For once she was totally silent. "Interesting reaction."

"I think all that sun and rum has really affected your mind more than I thought," she checked his forehead for fever.

"I feel fine…sorta," he laid his head down. Lucy put her own head back down, dismissing his orders (at least the last one) as an after affect of nearly dying on the same island for a third time. He wasn't the type to get married, he would never tie himself to one woman…or would he? Lucinda decided to sleep on the subject and soon fell into a deep sleep, feeling safe for the first time in weeks.

**The Next Day**

Lucinda woke up to the wonderfully familiar sounds of the crashing waves against the hull and the crew moving around up on deck going about their daily chores. The bed was cool and empty on the left side, only an indentation of the person who earlier occupied it remained. She pulled her fingers through her long hair and grunted at the amount of tangles she found there. As she looked for a comb in the cabin and found none she had to just use her fingers to pull out all the knots, not a pleasant thing mind you. After torturing her poor scalp she grabbed her robe again and headed up on deck, assuming you know who would be there and she didn't want him to get distracted. The last thing she needed was to have a dehydrated Jack running about (both around and after her) as if nothing was wrong and only make himself sicker, her conscious was guilty enough as it was.

Out in the fresh air everyone was doing their usual business, making it no surprise for her to find Jack back at the helm steering the ship through the still waters, his eyes seeing only the course ahead of him. She climbed the steps to the wheel and tapped him on the shoulder, he nearly jumped out of his skin.

"You know Jack, one should pay attention when steering a ship, not daydreaming," she folded her arms across her chest. "One also shouldn't be out of bed when one has been stranded on an island for four days without food or water."

"Didn't I tell ye not to sneak up on me like that?" He could have sworn this had happened before.

"Probably, but that doesn't matter, your health does and right now you're putting it in danger. You've already proved that you're delirious last night, so go back in the cabin, drink the water and get some rest." An eyebrow raised into the rim of his hat, he looked at her questioningly.

"What do ye mean by delirious, luv?"

"Doing and saying things you wouldn't normally say, you know what I mean." A feeling of awkwardness took over her, did he even really remember last night?

"What did I say that I didn't mean?"

"Well…you know…or at least you should unless you forgot it already."

"Maria, come take the helm, I need to talk with me lady for a moment," he called and left the platform and walked with Lucy to their room, holding her arms the whole time. "Now tell me, what do ye think I said that I didn't mean."

She gulped.

"When you…mentioned _something_ odd…something every one says you'd never do," she wrung her hands and looked every where except at him. Now this was embarrassing, she hated not being the doing the interrogating. "When you said something 'bout getting…married."

"And ye didn't think I meant it?" he sounded disappointed though he tried to hide it.

"Well…in a way. You just don't seem like the type to get married," she told him. He took her by the arms and gave her a slight shake then framed her face with is large hands.

"But I would, but only to you, Lucinda rose." He purposely used her whole name as he toyed with a lock of hair between his fingertips. "And I mean it, and I will marry ye 'cause yer mine and no one else's, and I take care of what's mine." Hazel eyes widened and she sighed found herself standing corrected.

"Jack, I'm sorry it's just-" She stopped, she didn't want to sound like a rambling, lovesick little girl, namely one of her sisters.

"I forgive ye luv, I always will. So is this yer way of sayin' yes to marryin' me?"

"I dunno, is this you're way of asking? Because if it is then you already know the answer," she wrapped her arms around his neck and looked up into his face, a deliriously happy smile on her face.

"I guess so," he leaned down to kiss her but when he was centimeters from her lips she moved her face from him and held her hand up. "What is it?"

"If I'm gonna marry you then the first thing you have to get straight is that days on end trying to die will affect you breath. And two, I think you need another bath 'cause quite frankly darling, you stink."


	23. Epilog

Epilogue 

Two weeks later found the Lady of the _Black Pearl_, as the crew had come to call her, looking out the large bay windows of the Captain's cabin from her bed. The young woman in bed stretched her arms high above her head, feeling how the rest of her body was deliciously sore from the previous evening. Apparently Jack was back to full health and had taken the majority of the night to prove it to her, as if she needed it to be proven but who was she to complain. She rubbed her arms and looked around for her shirt, but it also seemed that Jack had thrown it who knows where in his haste.

"Great," after a while she couldn't find any of her clothes anywhere. It could only mean one thing, the smarmy bastard had hidden them on purpose. And by coincidence at the exact moment she slid out of the covers the man in question walked into the cabin and got a full view of her exposed body as she stood in the very center of the room. "Jack, what're you doing?!" She all but dived back into bed and pulled the blankets to her chin.

"Now come on, luv. There ain't nothing there that I 'aven't seen before," he sat down on a chair right in front of her. His only answer was a pillow straight in the center of his face at point blank. "That wasn't very nice," said Jack.

"Maybe so but that's what you get for hiding my clothes," she brushed a strand of loose hair from her forehead. But when she did the ugly brand on her lower arm stared out at him and he in turn stared at it. Faster then she could see he caught her arm and brought it next to his own. The sleeve of his shirt was pulled back and he put his mark beside hers as if he was comparing the two. When she tried to pull away his grip only tightened and he looked into her sea green eyes.

"If ye give me the word I'll go back. Then I can give that Ragan what he deserves for doin' this to ye. Savvy?"

"Jack, you know you can't go back to Port Royal right now, he'd expect that. And I told you already, you should stay low for some time so he'll think you're gone. After some time has passed then you can go back, but we can't risk it now," she held the sheet close to her.

"I know yer right, darlin' but that don't mean I have to like it," he let go of her arm and raked a hand through his knotty hair. "That bastard had no right to do this to ye when ye didn't do anything wrong." The brand stole his gaze, it seemed to him proof that he had failed miserably at the one thing he truly believed he could do, protect her, he found he didn't like being wrong.

"But I told you before when I first showed this to you, I let him do it because I wasn't about to give you away. It was my choice and I've accepted it."

"But now ye can never go back to yer town, no reasonable person there would let a pirate in that place. I couldn't stop him from takin' ye so I've condemned ye to never see yer home again." A pale hand lifted his drooping chin with her fingertips and made him look at her, she toyed with his beard as she thought of the right words to say. 

"This _is_ my home Jack, wherever you are is where I belong. If we're going to be married then this has to stop, this persistence that I'm supposed to be anywhere else but here. You never did this before so stop. Are we in agreement?"

"What about yer sisters and Will-" she cut him off.

"I have a feeling that my sisters are going to be around us for some time. And Will is going back to Tortuga so he can catch a ship back to see Lizzy, besides once he's there I have a feelin' that Ragan will be hearing from Governor Swan. I think they can manage without us." Lucy took his hand and brought him to sit next to her on the bed. She leaned against him, he instinctively brought his arms around her and rested his head on hers. The sheet fell to her waist when she wrapped her arms around his neck. As she did so her unbound hair lightly covered her shoulders and chest like a long, brown cape. He thought she looked like a siren tempting him with her beauty.

"Sing for me," he said as he nuzzled her hair, her hair had become a habit. one night he had heard her singing to herself on deck before Ragan had come into their lives. Her voice was clear and high and just as lovely as her looks, but she had stopped as soon as she saw he had been listening.

"But, I…" she hated to admit it but she was shy about singing when others were near.

"Please luv?" he gave her his best puppy dog face. She gave in and pulled the sheet around her once more and sat up straight. For a moment she contemplated what she should sing then she finally decided on a song her mother had often sang to her as a child. As she sang he listened as if in a trance, never once looking away or letting something else catch his attention. Lyrics about a young solider and a girl meeting on the shores of the River Dee floated around the spacious room. The song was short but sweet and when she looked back up at him her face turned a bright red. But his face was filled with pride. "I thought only the rich could afford to have a voice like yers."

"The only singing lessons I ever had were from my mother," she said blushing.

"Well yer a lot better then most of them overdressed noble women are. All they can do is squawk."

"And how, my dear pirate, would you know that?" she tilted her head at him. He grinned at her in that mischievous way of his.

"Lets just say I spent some time at court, savvy," he laid back with his hands behind his head. "And since ye are gonna marry me ye should seriously think 'bout how 'pirate' will apply to ye to."

Her slender eyebrow raised a bit, then she sighed and leaned on the headboard as she wrapped the sheet around her like a dress. The 'P' on her arm was right in her face, it had ceased to sting, and it had healed almost completely now, the whole of it a shiny pink. To her it meant that she had stood up for herself and Jack, not the failure that he saw it as. The past is past, she would just have to work on him about that.

"Oh you did, did you? And how did you find out how the noble women sing, or squawk as you put it?" He gave her another sheepish look and whistled innocently. "Forget that I asked."

"Well, what do ye know want to do now, luv? No? All right then, what else other than 'lying low,' can keep us occupied?"

"I have the distinct feeling that you already have something in mind Jack Sparrow and I don't know if I want to find out what it is," she said sticking up her nose.

"Oh ye know me too well, darlin', I do 'ave somethin' in mind," he pulled her down to him by her ankle. Her sudden movement hiked up the sheet covering her, showing off long, white legs. "Ye 'ave such nice skin," he rubbed his cheek against her thigh. The hair on his face tickled her but she didn't laugh, instead she ran her fingers through the dreadlocked and braided hair on his head. He seemed to purr under her ministrations and brought her lips down to his with one hand cupping the back of her head. Her unbound hair slid over his hand like long, wavy, silk threads. She kissed him back with a needing feeling pulling at her heart, even if she was still slightly sore from the previous night. Just then the door to their cabin burst open as Will, Alex and Zack rushed in.

"Jack we just-" the blacksmith cut himself off when the saw the couple on the bed. His face turned as red as one of his pokers back in his workshop. "Sorry," he tried to turn away but the two devils beside him stopped him.

"We don't 'ave time for modesty, we've seen him with lots of women like this 'fore anyway," Alex said.

"Excuse me but do I need to know that?" Lucy sat up and once again wrapped herself up in an instant toga. The younger Sparrow brothers shrugged their shoulders and went to the oldest of the three, regardless of the nearly naked girl on the bed next to him. "Men," she shimmied off the mattress, bringing half the covers with her, and continued her interrupted search for her clothes.

"Ye three better 'ave a good reason for interuptin' me lady and me," he grumbled.

"Oh believe me bro, we have a pretty good reason," Zack said as he sat beside his brother. Will and Alexander pulled up chairs around him, effectively blocking Lucy from seeing anything. By then she had found an extra (clean) shirt of Jack's and her long, light blue skirt and donned them behind a changing screen Mr. Cotton had found in the cargo hold. She didn't take very kindly to them blocking her out and put her hands on her hips.

"Well I can see when I'm not wanted," none of them even acknowledged her, they were too busy whispering to each other. With a huff she stalked out of the room, slammed the door and went up onto the deck to find Anna Maria to see if she knew anything about what was this oh so important news that those pea brains had to hide the whole thing from her. When she found said woman, her friend was pulling a net full of fish up over the railing along with three other pirates. The black woman looked up, when she saw her she smiled and hauled up the remainder of the net then went to Lucy.

"'Ello Lucy! How are ye feelin' today? Any better?"

"Sort of," she sat on a barrel. "Jack just brushed me off to talk to Will and his brothers."

"He can be like that some times, ye just gotta get used to it. Why were they talkin' to him, weren't ye two, um busy?"

"How would you know?" she look quizzically at her.

"Well just before Jack went into 'is cabin he said somethin' like 'I don't 'ave time for scalawags like ye when I 'ave a bride- to- be waitin' for me,' or at least somethin' along those lines."

"Well hey why doesn't he just paint it on the front sails in bright pink paint that we're getting married? It would have the same effect! That's two things I have to talk to him about later today, after I get over the fact that he totally and utterly ignored me," she dropped her head between her knees.

"Don't jinx it, he might do it if ye say that," she nudged her.

"I've jinxed myself so many times I should have just sewed my mouth shut years ago."

"What do ye mean by that?"

"For one," she held up a single finger, "I kept on saying I loved pirates so much I'll end up either marrying one and/or get kidnapped by one." A second finger pointed toward the sky, "two, I said my sisters will probably end up the same as me. And what do you know so far both have come to pass, lucky me."

"That'll do it," Anna said shaking her head. "So are ye gonna go and see why he was ignoring ye or will ye wait 'till those three leave and let Jack squirm until he'd begin' to know why yer not given' 'im any attention?"

"Hmm," Lucy put her chin on her fist. "Although the former is oh so tempting I think I'll go with the latter. It'll be fun to torment Jack like that." So for the next half-hour they talked about anything that came to mind, even if they were interrupted once when a huge eel from the net Anna was lifting earlier got loose and tried to chase them across the deck and bite off their ankles. When Alex, Zack and Will finally walked out of the cabin in single file Lucy went inside after them to find Jack going through his rum cabinet.

Pretending he wasn't there she went over to his desk and searched through piles of (recently cleaned and now messy) junk until she found an empty sheet of paper, a pencil and a book. Then she sat at the window, put the paper on the book, using it as a makeshift table and began to sketch. After looting what was left of his rum for a relatively full bottle Jack went over to her and looked over her shoulder to see what she was drawing and took a long drink.

"What's that s'possed to be?" All it looked like was a bunch of circles and cylinders connected together by their sides. "Well?" She totally ignored him, not something his was used to mind you. "Lucy, why are ye not talkin' to me all the sudden?" Still no answer. "Is this 'cause I didn't let ye in on what Will an' the others 'ad to say?"

She shrugged her shoulders and began to fill in some basic details on her picture. Large boulders on a beach, a mans figure laying on the sand, a woman sitting on one of the rocks with her long fish tail hanging off of it. It wasn't quite realistic looking but pretty none the less.

"That's a nice drawin' luv," he said in between gulps. She nodded her head in response. "Alrigh' I get it already! Talk to me darlin'!" She put down her paper and looked at the clock hanging on the wall near her.

"Six minutes," she stated. "You can't last six minutes without speaking to me, Jack that's just pathetic." He moved her things and his rum to the floor and sat next to her. "What is it that was so important that you couldn't even acknowledge your fiancée, Jack?"

"Please don't start with the French talk luv, I can't take that stuff," he paused. "But what I didn't let ye know was…" he trailed off.

"Is what? Tell me," she said.

"Do ye remember me ever sayin' that I 'ad another brother?" For a moment she thought then recalled hearing something like that some time ago.

"Yes, what about it?"

"Well, Alex an' Zack just got a message on a carrier bird from a source in Tortuga that me other brother, Daniel's 'is name, is coming."

"And why is that a bad thing?"

"It's a long story, luv." That sounded familiar.

"I have more than enough time, Jack."

"Whatever ye say," he had a feeling that spilling his darkest secrets would be too easy around this woman. "Ye see luv, me brothers an' I were each gonna get a share of our father's treasure when he died. But Daniel wanted the whole thing, he thought I wasn't fit to 'ave it, even if I'm the oldest an' he bein' the second son," he explained.

"So, what you're saying is that he's coming for your father's treasure? But you said each of you got a share of it."

"That was the plan, but when me ol' man found out what Danny thought he only wanted me, Alex an' Zack to have it. An' wit me bein' his favorite anyway he decided that Danny wouldn't get to share one of the family ships either."

"Family ships?" her eyes widened in surprise. "You mean this and the _Black Diamond_ are family heirlooms?"

"Yep, an' two of us were to share one so it would be all even like." Jack left out the part where the _Pearl _had to be raised from the depths by a squid-faced fairy tale in order to get it back in the family though. "As ye can see we're one Sparrow short," he leaned into the pillows propped up on the windowsill.

"That's an interesting story and all Jack but that doesn't explain why you ignored me like you did."

"Do ye really wanna know why I didn't want ye to hear?"

"It would be appreciated," she said sarcastically. This was starting to grate on her already frazzeled nerves.

"Daniel 'as a new ship now, he's comin' to get me to tell 'im where me ol' man hid 'is loot, an' I ain't tellin' that traitor for the life of me. But the problem is that he's prepared to do just that."

"Your own brother would kill you for your father's treasure?" There was something she could never imagine either of her sisters, or herself for that matter, doing something like that.

"Like I said me pretty, he thinks I ain't worthy of our father's treasure an' he'll do anything to prove it."

"Well," she thought, "how long until he finds us?"

"I would guess a week, maybe longer, no ship can catch up with either of ours."

"Then you'll fight him?" she asked.

"No, I won't." Yet again she was surprised, this might cause her heart serious damage.

"But why?"

"'Cause if I fight 'im then I'm riskin' ye, again, an' I won't risk loosin' me woman to that brother of mine," he said. "On top of that I won't 'ave that ass ruin our wedding 'cause he's upset that our father liked me better. There ain't no way he would let me be happy."

"But Jack, this may sound crazy but I think you'll have to fight him." She didn't know what had come over her, but she somehow thought that she had said the right thing.

"What? 'Ave ye gone mad? Either that or ye been around me too long," he paced back and forth.

"If you don't, then he'll come after us anyway and you'll be forced to fight. It would be better for you to get this over with on your own account than let him make the first move and catching us off guard." He stopped moving and stroked his beard as he thought that she did have a point.

"I hate it when yer right," he picked up his bottle again and downed half of it.

"Then you hate me all the time. Now, will you do as I ask or will I have to make you?" He gave her a tiny smile and sat beside her.

"I'll tell ye what, I'll go after me dear brother like ye want but, you 'ave to do somethin' for me." This couldn't be good.

"And what would that be my dear fiancée?" he winced.

"First of all stop with the French. What I wanted of ye was to stop pesterin' me about takin' a bloody bath. I go for Daniel like ye want, and you let me bathe like I want. Do we 'ave a deal, luv?"

"Now that isn't fair! You stink half the time Jack, I can't stay in a cabin with you for much longer if you don't take a bath at **least** once a **week**!"

"When it come to takin' one of those things, quite frankly my dear, I just don't give a damn." She made a face but gave up by throwing her hands in the air and walking away form him. Oh well, let him think that he could get out of staying clean. She would just have to get him into the tub the same way she did the first time, and that she was actually looking forward to.

They would go after Daniel Sparrow soon enough and she would be faced with another battle, but she put it in the back of her mind as she noticed the tin bath tub in the corner of the room. Her soon to be brother-in-law could wait, she had better, more fun things to do.

The End.

_**Attention all my loyal readers!**_

I have had at least one request for a sequel-lucky for you one has already been started Now if you all remember I mentioned that I had this particular fic up once before, at the time of it's completion I also had the second installment up as well. This can be found one my profile page under the stories I've written. I'm lazy in nature and I really don't feel like re-doing (i.e.: re-posting) what has already been done over once before ; so if you want more just visit my profile and click on the fic titled "On the High Seas" and feel free to read chapter 1. Chapter 2 will be up soon enough, it's finished for those who want to know. 3 might be a little longer then usual 'cause I haven't really started it as I have now less then 4 projects for school right now. But fear not I will finish this thing!

With much luv,

Pirate-Girl1017


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